Social Prescribing Research
If you are not familiar with the term, social prescribing connects people to practical and emotional community support. This is most commonly facilitated by social prescribing link workers, who are based in GP practices and take referrals from all local agencies. As part of the Barber Health project, we have undertook research into the social prescribing landscape in Birmingham.
Is there a place for the Barber here – and if there is, what does it look like, can we fill the gap, and how can we make it sustainable?
Our ongoing research into social prescribing has worked with community partners in Northfield, a residential area located in south Birmingham – less than five miles from the Barber. During a research project in 2021 – 2022 we partnered with Northfield Neighbourhood Network Scheme (who support older adults in Northfield) and Northfield Community Partnership (who support the wider Northfield population), who we worked with to further develop our knowledge and understanding of the needs of people in these local neighbourhoods.
UoB Student Placements
We continue to support students from the University of Birmingham’s Pharmacy to support their fourth-year elective placements undertaking valuable and collaborative research as part of Barber Health.
Their work included running focus groups in Northfield, with the aim of understanding better the needs of the Northfield community. This would help the Barber identify whether there were ways to develop a sustainable offer that would contribute positively to the many amazing activities that already fall under the social prescribing umbrella locally.
I wanted to take part in this elective placement to prove to society that there are other ways to improve health and wellbeing, rather than just relying on medication.
Being a Pharmacy student at the University of Birmingham with the Barber Institute located right on our campus, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to utilise the resources available to us to help achieve this!
Team Learning
Our team has worked collaboratively with the National Academy of Social Prescribing. It brings people together from the arts, natural environment, financial wellbeing, health, physical activity and care sectors to share learning, discuss challenges and build partnerships.
Along with the learning acquired through the community focus groups, we have been able to gain knowledge and understanding of the social prescribing landscape by attending this programme, guiding the Barber in making considered and thoughtful decisions for potential future social prescribing provision.
