MedTech firm Elemental has announced that it's been selected to provide the social prescribing platform for the entire Greater Manchester area.
While most of us use our GPs for minor health complaints or to get referrals for clinical procedures, there's also a range of non-medical social interventions that GPs can refer patients to. These are typically volunteer-led schemes and community sector organisations, and can be important for mental healthcare, increasing exercise, and improving diet.
Social prescribing is used by GPs to recommend a patient for various social schemes that will benefit their health, but connecting GPs to these groups can be time-consuming. That's where Elemental's digital social prescibing platform comes in, helping give GPs access to local community groups and activities that they can then use as part of a holistic approach to healthcare.
The derry-based MedTech firm has just announced that it's secured the contract to supply NHS bodies and councils in the entire Greater Manchester area in England. This covers roughly 2.8 million people living in Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Heywood Middleton and Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside and Glossop, Trafford, and Wigan.
The Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership's Giles Wilmore explained the benefits of social prescibing: "We know social prescribing has already made a difference to so many people whether it’s tackling loneliness and isolation, managing depression and anxiety or getting back to work - we’ve heard amazing stories from right across the region."
Elemental CEO Jennifer Neff said: "Elemental has formed strong partnerships with clinical system providers and therefore is able to offer GPs using Vision, EMIS and Systm1 to make, manage and report on referrals to social prescribing programmes. This shifts the relationship between health and care services, and the communities and citizens they serve, so we are really excited about the impacts to come."
Source: Written based on press release
