Supporting social prescribing in primary care by linking people to local assets: a realist review
Stephanie Tierney, Geoff Wong, Nia Roberts, Anne-Marie Boylan, Sophie Park, Ruth Abrams, Joanne Reeve, Veronika Williams, Kamal R.Mahtani
Social prescribing is a way of addressing the ‘non-medical’ needs (e.g. loneliness, debt, housing problems) that can affect people’s health and well-being. Connector schemes (e.g. delivered by care navigators or link workers) have become a key component to social prescribing’s delivery. Those in this role support patients by either (a) signposting them to relevant local assets (e.g. groups, organisations, charities, activities, events) or (b) taking time to assist them in identifying and prioritising their ‘non-medical’ needs and connecting them to relevant local assets. To understand how such connector schemes work, for whom, why and in what circumstances, we conducted a realist review.