Since 2022 Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board (ICB) has been leading the development of Social Prescribing, one of the core components of the NHS Universal Personalised Care model. Together with our partners in the Integrated Care System (ICS), we play a key role influencing policy, supporting local strategy, developing evidence, supporting the workforce, and driving innovation in personalised care and social prescribing. 

Our vision is to ensure Norfolk and Waveney offer an all age, whole population approach to accessing high-quality personalised care including social prescribing. Social prescribing is a vital tool in tackling health inequalities and creating thriving, resilient and more cohesive communities. We prioritise coproduction in our work and ensure that our activities are informed by the needs of local health and care systems to ensure social prescribing remains sustainable. 

Our focus is on embedding and expanding social prescribing delivery and opportunities, providing quality improvement to support leaders at System, Place and Neighbourhood levels to work together strategically and operationally to embed social prescribing and enable it to be as effective as possible.

What is social prescribing?

Social prescribing and community-based support is part of the NHS Long Term Plan’s commitment to make personalised care business as usual across the health and care system and to bring additional capacity into the multi-disciplinary team within Primary Care Networks.

This aims to reduce pressure on the overall health and social care sectors, improve people’s lives through improved and timely access to health services, strengthen community resilience, reduce health inequalities, and meet the needs of our diverse and multi-cultural communities.

By increasing people’s active involvement with their local communities and finding the right support, they can feel more empowered to take control of their lives.

One in five GP appointments focus on wider social needs, rather than acute medical issues. In areas of high deprivation, many GPs report they spend significant time dealing with the consequences of poor housing, debt, stress, loneliness, and physical inactivity.  Traditional health interventions are not the most appropriate or effective response for supporting people in these circumstances.  

Social prescribing presents the NHS and local authorities with an opportunity to help people make use of existing community services, resources and facilities which can help them manage or overcome these social factors. 

Find out more

Explore the pages below to find out more about the ICS’ vision for social prescribing, and more about our Personalised Care workforce.