December 2016
- In Doncaster the Social Prescribing Service is delivered through a partnership between South Yorkshire Housing Association (SYHA) and Doncaster CVS. The Service's Advisors receive client referrals from GPs, community nurses and pharmacists and provide them with support to access a range of voluntary, community and statutory services that meet their needs.
- It is funded through the Better Care Fund and is a key feature of local health and social care integration and transformation programmes.
- In health terms the Social Prescribing Service is estimated to have led to an additional 91.7 Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) in the 3-6 months following engagement. This provides a cost per QALY of £1,963; much lower than the NHS cost-effectiveness threshold of £20,000-£30,000. This QALY gain equates to health benefits worth £1,834,000 and means that for every £1 of health and social care funding spent supporting vulnerable people, the Social Prescribing Service produced more than £10 of benefits in terms of better health, at least in the short term. In addition to quantifiable health benefits the Service created a range of wider social and economic benefits in the areas of volunteering, employment, and leveraged funding.