Hastings to host pilot social prescribing programme for ‘under-served’ older people

From May onwards the organisation is actively seeking the involvement of older, local residents to hear about their experiences and ideas.

Many things that affect the health of older people can’t be treated by doctors or medicine alone, such as loneliness, debt, or stress due to financial pressures or poor housing. Social prescribing can connect people to non-medical support to address these issues and other unmet needs.

In collaboration with other local organisations, Hastings Voluntary Action will be using social prescribing to reach older people by holding a variety of social drop in sessions and health and wellbeing activities over the next few months.

These sessions will aim to ‘myth bust’ some of the misconceptions around social prescribing and also to reach some of those hardest to reach older people in our community. The final stage of the pilot will involve working with local older people and stakeholders to design a longer-term social prescribing service for older people specific to Hastings needs.

The pilot is the latest phase in a larger programme lead by The National Academy for Social Prescribing, funded through a partnership with Independent Age.

Prior to this, the organisations collaborated to research the existing barriers and health inequalities facing older people – conducting surveys and reviewing existing evidence. These insights, in particular how social prescribing could support older people experiencing poverty and financial hardship, will inform the pilot project.Now the project – launching in both Hastings and Leicester - will seek to further engage with older people to understand how social prescribing can better address their needs and priorities. The Hastings pilot will run until August this year.

Debby Anderson, Age-friendly project worker at Hastings Voluntary Action, said: “Hastings Voluntary Action are pleased to have been chosen by NASP as one of the pilot sites for their work on social prescribing for older adults.

"This work forms a legacy to the work we have done previously in Hastings with the Centre for Ageing Better around Age Inclusive Volunteering and also more recently on our journey to become an Age Friendly Community.

"The pilot is an exciting opportunity to use that learning to create a service specifically shaped by and fit for supporting people in later life around a range of needs and we are looking forward to working with NASP, Independent Age and local stakeholders to make that happen.”

Emily Cousins, National Lead for Older People at NASP, said: “It’s fantastic to be partnering with Independent Age and Hastings Voluntary Action to deliver this pilot project for older people who are currently under-served by social prescribing.

"We hope that this work will enable us to support more older people, helping to address health inequalities and making provision more diverse, accessible and inclusive.”

Dan Ellitts, Grant Consultant at Independent Age, said: “Independent Age has been supporting older people facing financial hardship since our foundation in 1863.

"Over the last decade, we have developed our expertise on the consequences of financial hardship in later life through working directly with older people, our groundbreaking evidence-based research, delivering a comprehensive information and advice service and our policy change campaigns.

"There are clear links between financial insecurity and poor mental and physical health. A person’s health is shaped by various social, economic and physical environments.

"The issues discussed that impact financial well-being as people age can lead to poor mental health.

"For this reason, we are delighted to be working with NASP and funding the pilot project to contribute towards a better understanding of the social prescribing activities, practices and services that best enable improved quality of life for older people.”

If you would like to hear more about the pilot project and are interested in becoming involved, please contact Debby Anderson at Hastings Voluntary Action on 01424 444010 or via email on [email protected]