As one of the Enabling Effective Learning Environments (EELE) projects, a dedicated team have been scoping the readiness for Third Sector/non-clinical learning environments within a Social Prescribing context. A Personalised Care Interprofessional educational framework (PerCIE) has been co-created to help facilitate these learning experiences. The team based at University of Salford included Prof Jacqueline Leigh, Dr Michelle Howarth, Maxine Hamilton-Bell. Here Elaine Smithies (Project Lead) reflects on her experience over the course of the 6 month project.

Engaging the third sector and opportunities to embed social prescribing

Having worked within the Third Sector for a number of years at a national cancer charity, I have been able to see first-hand the impact of Social Prescribing on someone’s mental, physical, emotional and financial health and was interested to learn about the strategic vision of this in the NHS Long Term Plan 2019 (NHS Long Term Plan).  This set the context for my 6 months in post where myself and the team have undertaken a lot of work around raising awareness of Social Prescribing including two webinars for Health Education England highlighting the journey of a social prescription, and the opportunities of embedding Social Prescribing into the curriculum.

Project developments

We have built relationships with many stakeholders during our scoping including voluntary organisations, learners, Practice Education Facilitators (PEFs), Primary Care Networks (PCNs), Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) within Greater Manchester, the UK and internationally. We have found some barriers to placing learners in Third Sector learning experiences; knowledge of salutogenic approaches, ongoing discussions around tariffs, and understanding of assessment and supervision – but we’ve also found some great enablers; cross-network working, engagement and lived experience from learners and the Third Sector, and some real examples of how these Third Sector learning experiences has positively impacted the now newly-qualified professional’s care and practice.

Next steps

The next steps will be to look at how to continue this great work, to build sustainable roles and enable the learners of Greater Manchester to have the best student experience, fully prepared to join a workforce that works with communities to support resilience and wellbeing. Importantly the outputs from the final report will be embedded into the strategy implementation plan to maximise sustainability.

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