In this episode we hear Linda's story. Her life was turned upside down after losing her husband, she had barely left home without him for decades. An avid traveller, she was just beginning to find her feet, and take solo trips abroad when COVID-19 trapped her inside.  

Linda found out about ‘Walk and Talk’ along Fleetwood seafront through a local Social Prescriber – Wendy. Wendy persuaded her to go along on the walk and soon she was out every week.  

It’s normal to be nervous to try something new. But there are social prescribers like Wendy to walk with you every step of the way and people like Linda to welcome you when you get there. If you need support, speak to your local GP surgery about social prescribing in your area. It might even change your life.  

In this podcast we hear Evrill's story, she found lockdown hard. Stuck in her house in Manchester, she couldn’t do any of the things she used to love: singing, dancing, spending time with her family and her church community.

After spending some time talking to a link worker - explaining how she was feeling – they referred her to a community music organisation called String of Hearts.

Social prescribing can be that helping hand needed to take us from isolated and lonely to happy and fulfilled. If you aren’t sure what changes you need to make your life happier and healthier, speak to your GP surgery ask for an appointment with a link worker. 

In this podcast we hear Shiv's story, who came to acting through Outside Edge Theatre Company, when he was in the depths of an addiction and dependency problem. But it was the first step of many that lead to his recovery and the happy, healthy life he leads today.  

It’s stories like Shiv’s that show that sometimes it’s non-medical interventions that can make the most fundamental difference. If you are interested to know more about the groups and organisations like Outside Edge in your area, ask your GP practice for a referral to a link worker.   

How can our interaction with nature help support our wellbeing?

Our ultimate episode of season 2 of Podcast on Prescription welcomes a host of wonderful guests, all with different backgrounds and expertise surrounding nature, social prescribing, and the impact it can have on our health and happiness.

Dr. Radha's first guest is Michael Perry aka The Plant Geek. Michael has been listed in the Sunday Times as one of Britain's 'Top 20 Most Influential Horticulturalists'. He champions the role that gardening and plants can play in keeping us well.

Our second guest is Amanda Craig, Natural England's Director of People and Nature. She oversees their Connecting People with Nature programme, which focuses on tackling barriers to nature and inequalities in access to nature.

Our next guest is Pam Warhurst. Pam chairs Incredible Edible CIC, supporting and amplifying the work of groups around the UK., developing a new localised partnership model where citizen and anchor both play their parts in creating a healthy local food economy, and pressing for a change in the law giving the citizen the right to grow food in the public realm.

Our final guest, Dr. Richard Claxton is a GP based in Kent, he is a GP trainer and sits on the Kent Local Medical Committee. He advocates for the benefits that gardening and horticulture have both for himself and for his patients.

Podcast on Prescription is back! This week Dr. Radha will be finding out about how social prescribing has developed globally. She will be joined by 7 special guests, who are part of the Global Social Prescribing Alliance:

James Sanderson, Personalised Care Group at NHS England and NHS Improvement & NASP

Dr Michael Dixon is a NHS GP at the Culm Valley Integrated Centre for Health in Cullompton, Devon

Dr. Kate Mulligan, Canadian Institute for Social Prescribing

Mr Gareth Presch, World Health Innovation Summit.

Assoc Prof Lee Kheng Hock, Singapore General Hospital

Isabelle Wachsmuth-Huguet, World Health Organisation

Dr Bogdan Chiva Giurca, NASP

If you want to find out more: Home | Global Social Prescribing Alliance (gspalliance.com)

It's Social Prescribing Week! What better way to celebrate than to speak to social prescribing link workers who work tirelessly on the ground to provide personalised care for individuals, supporting them to live their best lives.

This week, Dr Radha is joined by three inspirational women.

Our first guest is Bev Taylor, who is the Executive Director of Strategy at the National Academy for Social Prescribing. Bev led social prescribing at NHS England from 2015-2019. She worked with partners to develop regional social prescribing networks, an online social prescribing community, build the social prescribing team (as part of the Personalised Care Group), produce national guidance, provide learning and development support for social prescribing link workers and build the case for NHS Long Term Plan investment. This work resulted in a NHS Long Term Plan commitment to embed 4500 social prescribing link workers in every primary care network multi-disciplinary team across England and to enable over 900,000 people to benefit from social prescribing.

Bev’s background is as a housing manager and community development worker. She has worked 30 years in the VCSE sector, where she has supported co-production and leadership development at local, regional and national levels. Bev co-led Regional Voices, Jesuit and supported the creation of new carers, housing, out-of-school and mental health community projects.

Our second guest is Gay Palmer. Gay works as a link worker for Southwark PCN, she is also a Trustee at NASP. Gay has supported the programme in Southwark since it was implemented in March 2020 and has helped to maintain its ongoing growth and development in relation to number of referrals and the capacity of the team.

Gay has a 20-year history of being a Nurse and has worked in a variety of community settings across North and East London. The diverse roles gave rise to many opportunities to understand the needs of people and the impact that wider determinants of health can have on a person their family and the community.

Gays life ethos is “keep it moving take the time to learn, grow, and move with what you have”, which she feels has allowed her to have a fulfilling career with diverse opportunities. These opportunities and experiences she hope will now benefit social prescribing locally and to make an impact on the wider community within social prescribing.

Thirdly Radha will be joined by Michelle Pilling. Michelle is Senior Lead for Social Prescribing at NHS England and NHS Improvement. She has held previous senior leadership roles as Deputy Chair of a clinical commissioning group (CCG) and as North West Social Prescribing Regional Learning Coordinator for NHS England and NHS Improvement.

Her social prescribing journey started back in 2001, first as a link worker in the VCSE sector, as a charity manager, through to strategic leadership roles in the NHS. She brings a broad perspective of social prescribing and the VCSE and health and care economy, with extensive experience of coproduction and personalised care. In her previous roles she is most proud of the £4.2 million invested through the CCG in grass root community commissioning, secured through her CCG role. Her values align with promoting ethical approaches to social prescribing that focus on sustainable community development to deliver truly integrated care. Developing a different model of 21st Century healthcare that combines wellbeing and prevention with bio-medical approaches.

Don't forget #SocialPrescribingDay on the 10 March!

It's Children's Mental Health Week and to mark it, Dr. Radha Modgil will be talking to three wonderful guests all about children, young people and social prescribing.

Our first guest this week is Brad Gudger. He is the founder and Director of Alike, a game-changing charity created to combat loneliness and isolation caused by cancer. Alongside his work with Alike, Brad is an NHS Youth Expert Advisor and a member of the NHS Children and Young People’s Transformation Board. Brad is also Vice-chair of NASP. 

Radha is also joined by Dawn Mitchell, who works at StreetGames. StreetGames harnesses the power of sport to create positive change in the lives of young people from underserved communities across the UK. StreetGames' work helps to make young people and their communities healthier, safer and more successful. 

Dawn has been working with StreetGames for over 10 years, most recently on the national pilot of social prescribing for children and young people which has highlighted the potential for social prescribing to positively impact on all aspects of a young person’s health and wellbeing. 

Thirdly, we are delighted to invite Rachael, a YoungMinds Activist to talk with Radha about her experiences. YoungMinds is the the UK’s leading charity fighting for children and young people's mental health.

This week, Dr. Radha will be finding out about the connection between being physically active and improving your mental health and wellbeing.

Our first guest is Keri-anne Payne. She is 3 time Olympic Open Water Swimmer & Olympic Silver medallist from Beijing 2008. Keri-anne retired from competitive swimming in 2017 after the Rio Olympic Games and founded 2 companies Triscape & Straight Line Swimming. Both are based around open water swimming and inspiring as many people as possible to take up this amazing sport. Keri-anne's main day job is tutoring an award winning Level 2 open water coaching qualification and has qualified over 400 coaches in 4 years.

Ruth Nutter will also join this weeks episode. She is a Sheffield-based creative producer and community engagement practitioner. She co-produces activities which increase people’s wellbeing and connection with each other and where they live. She is the project co-ordinator for Heeley Trust’s Thriving Communities project, working in collaboration with HandleBards theatre company, Heeley Plus Primary Care Network and many local community groups. Ruth is author of Paradise is Here: Building Community Around Things That Matter.

Our third guest, Michelle Roberts works for the Richmond Group of Charities, a collaboration of leading health and social care charities, managing their physical activity programme. The programme aims to support people with long term conditions to move more and one of the ways the Richmond Group do this is through their We Are Undefeatable campaign, in partnership with MS Society, Mind, Parkinson’s UK and Sport England and funded by the National Lottery. Michelle also recently was a guest speaker at our Thriving Communities webinar.