Social Prescribing – Oldham Council

• Lead Member Oldham Council
• Categories Health & Social Care

In March 2019, Oldham Council marked the world’s first Social Prescribing Day by awarding a pioneering three-year contract to a local consortium of voluntary and community organisations. This created a Social Prescribing Innovation Partnership arrangement which is thought to be one of the first for the public sector in England.

Oldham is a co-operative borough. It’s a place with a strong history of working together and one where everyone is encouraged to do their bit towards creating a confident and prosperous town to live and work.

Our Thriving Communities programme takes an asset-based approach and seeks to build on the strengths, people and groups that already enrich our neighbourhoods to take a stronger approach to earlier intervention and prevention. By using community resources, we can tackle problems earlier rather than dealing with costlier outcomes later. Crucially we can empower residents to take control of their health, wellbeing and social welfare, by ensuring they can easily access the right help, at the right time and in the right place.

In its Long-Term Plan, the NHS announced an intention to increase the prescribing of social activities to patients, which is already embedded in Oldham. With nearly 10% of our residents self-identifying as lonely, we’ve made a real commitment to tackling this through our community led-approach.

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