NHS South Yorkshire ICB Barnsley Place - Social Prescribing High Intensity Users Service

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   The service has been run alongside other services to provide enhanced primary care services to improve access and experience of patients. Access to non-clinical services is paramount in helping to make NHS services more sustainable due to escalating demands for health care.

   Social prescribing helps by enabling people to receive the right level of care in the right location; and helps to reduce hospital attendances, calls on other services such as YAS, 999 and 111; and, clinical appointments in GP practices.

   An initial review has been undertaken of the service, considering activity, the service delivery model and the achievement of the objectives and expected outcomes included within the service specification. The social prescribing service has been found to be beneficial in improving the health and well-being of the patients supported, evidenced by achievement of the action plans and through case studies.

   Additionally through potential efficiency savings due to the impact of patients usage of other NHS services.

   Further work is ongoing to consider transformation of the service with scope to link the review work ongoing in relation to urgent and emergency care, including further analysis of data regarding patients' high usage of the Emergency Department and consider the potential future achievement of the high intensity user service.

   Additionally, enabling the further development of systems in place to more fully analyse the impact of the social prescribing service, for example at 6 months following discharge from the service and also consider potential options for mitigation of other risks such as the support for patients re-referred into the service.

   These factors have therefore impacted on the ability to fully assess and evaluate the Social Prescribing Service in the context of other changes.

   It would not be in the public's best interests to procure a model that may no longer be right for the local population. Nor would it be in the public's best interests to de-commission a service that is currently supporting the people of Barnsley, and supporting the 2024/25 priorities and operational planning guidance overall priorities to improve ambulance and A&E wait times, admission avoidance and access to primary care.

   Ceasing the contract would greatly impact patient access and would put a burden back into GP practices and other services at a time when resources are stretched to meet the priority mandates from NHS England. Therefore, South Yorkshire ICB recognises that it is necessary to further extend the Social Prescribing Service, to 31 March 2027.

   The annual contract value for the period 1/04/2024 to 31/03/2025 is currently PS44,905 per year.