Focusing on creating a culture of self-care and independence, Elemental announce the launch of Elemental Self Refer – a simple, interactive tool tipped to revolutionise social prescribing.Elemental Self Refer will empower your communities to drive real-time, person-centred care in your area, at any time, in any place.
Elemental self-referral tool allows anyone to refer themselves directly to a Community Connector or into quality assured social prescribing activities, such as gardening groups, cookery classes and exercise programmes within their own communities.
Set to officially launch at the annual King’s Fund social prescribing conference next week, Elemental Self Refer has been tipped to reduce pressures on GPs and Link Workers by allowing them to spend more time with those who are vulnerable and need the most support.
Browse, refer or registerUsing Elemental Self Refer, anyone can browse, refer, register, and connect to their preferred community-based providers and social prescribing interventions in less than a few minutes. Should an individual choose to self-register, a baseline assessment questionnaire is carried out, presenting a customised list of activities, all relevant to the individual and their needs.
By putting control back into the citizen’s hands, individuals will have the ability to explore quality assured interventions in their community using a range of filters, self-refer and request support from a Link Worker and self-serve, automatically registering themselves into suitable social prescribing activities.
Empowering people to make their own health choices
Recent research by University of Westminster found that this approach delivers a wide range of positive health outcomes by empowering patients to engage with their own health choices, as well as reducing pressure on the health service by cutting GP consultation rates by 28% and A&E attendance by 24%.
We developed Elemental Self Refer in response to the varying needs of the community. Although anyone can avail of a social prescription, it was clear that not everyone required the support of a social prescribing Link Worker or needed to filter through a medical review before availing of community services. Equally, we wanted to create a product that freed up time for GPs to focus on those who are more vulnerable or need more support.
Leeann Monk-Özgül, Elemental Co-Founder said: “We are really excited to be able to offer this service to our customers. As former Community Development Workers, we recognised that there was a need for Elemental Self Refer within communities and feedback from our customers reinstated the demand for this option. We understand that people have different needs and requirements and Elemental Self Refer is a great way for people to take the first step to avail of a community based social prescription.”
Consultations with key stakeholders, including user groups, community providers and health professionals also found that there was often a stigma associated with asking for help. As a result, Elemental Self Refer is accessible at any time, via any connected device, making it easier for those interested in receiving a social prescription to manage their own health and wellbeing.
The launch of the self-refer tool follows a statement from NHS Digital CEO Sarah Wilkinson, which described the NHS entering the “era of self-service and mobility” as the health service is building a number of products putting the information “directly into the hands of citizens”.
Some organisations are already set to adopt the new tool, including Poplar HARCA, an award winning Housing and Regeneration Community Association in East London.
Hanif Osmani, Programme Manager, Poplar HARCA said: “As a registered social landlord and charity, we believe that connected communities are healthy communities. What’s great about the Self Refer module is that it allows our more digitally able residents to connect themselves to local activities/services or a link worker, giving us the opportunity to potentially reach thousands of people – with minimal effort.
We can then focus our resources on engaging those members of our community who may be more isolated or disconnected.”
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