Meeting of the Parliament 10 November 2022
I thank Gillian Martin and her committee colleagues for producing the report for debate and I thank the clerks for their help.
In the time that I have today, I want to focus on the role of social prescribing. I have met the Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health and Sport, Maree Todd, about the issue on a number of occasions, as well as hosting a parliamentary reception with the Scottish Social Prescribing Network, which was attended by many organisations from the sector. I thank the minister for the meeting.
As part of the inquiry, the committee was interested in understanding the levels of awareness of social prescribing among patients and health practitioners, and the extent to which effective use is currently being made of social prescribing. Social prescribing is described as a
“means of enabling ... health ... professionals to refer people to a range of local, non-clinical services.”
In its national clinical strategy for Scotland in 2016, the Scottish Government noted that multiple long-term health conditions can result in complex needs, many of which would be best addressed by social rather than medical interventions. To deliver the vision that
“people are able to live more years in good health, and that we reduce the inequalities in healthy life expectancy”
the Scottish Government argues that
“our efforts need to shift towards even greater prevention and early intervention and to local, community-based support across Scotland.”
In 2019, the Health and Sport Committee published its inquiry report, “Social Prescribing: physical activity is an investment, not a cost”. The report explored opportunities and challenges for social prescribing in Scotland. It concluded that social prescribing has clear benefits for the Scottish population and health services. Social prescribing and primary prevention approaches can help to prevent long-term conditions and dependence on pharmaceutical prescriptions. They also have the potential to ease the pressure on existing health and social care services, as well as to reduce waiting times, unplanned admissions to hospital and delayed discharges. The report also noted that there are costs involved, but said that they should be considered to be an investment.
So, what is the potential for social prescribing? Many of the witnesses contributing to this inquiry—