DOCTORS across the district will soon be able to prescribe friendship as a way of boosting patient’s health.

NHS bosses in the Bradford area are investing £197,000 in a new social prescribing service which will help people’s wellbeing and beat loneliness by linking them up with community groups and activities.

And they are hoping the health benefits will also reduce the financial burden on the NHS with people getting fitter and happier and needing fewer doctors’ appointments and medicines.

The money from the Bradford City and Bradford District clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) will keep the service running for one year to see what impact it has on the district’s health. Already 26 out of 66 GP surgeries from that area have signed up for it.

One of those surgeries taking part in the pilot scheme is Frizinghall Medical Practice in Keighley Road where staff were visited yesterday by Helen Parsons from award-winning Shipley-based charity HALE (Health Action Local Engagement) which will be leading the new Community Connector service, as part of the CCGs self-care and prevention programme.

Other groups involved with it are Carers Resource, Thornbury Centre, Healthy Lifestyles, Thorpe Edge Advice Centre and Equality Together.

Under the free service, health professionals and GPs will be able to refer patients on to a community connector who will then work with them to find local support that meets their needs whether it is getting benefits or debt advice, joining classes for healthy cooking or dance, gardening or walking clubs or social groups for older people.

Dr Taz Aldawoud, Bradford Districts CCG clinical board member and the CCGs’ lead GP for self-care said social prescribing can make a huge difference to how someone copes with an illness or condition at home and will help in ways that traditional medicine can not.

Similar, smaller projects have run in Bradford for several years in GP practices or through schemes run by the voluntary and community sector but this is the first time the CCGs have funded a Bradford-wide service.

Dr Aldawoud said: “It has the potential to reduce the financial burden on the NHS and particularly on primary care. This service helps us to access support in our local communities much easier, and in a coordinated way that will become part of each patient’s overall care. It gives GPs and nurses one referral point where someone can get help with non-medical issues, so they can enjoy a better quality of life.”

Ms Parsons from HALE added: “It’s fantastic that we will be supporting people who will benefit from using wider community resources. Practices will also benefit from seeing fewer patients with minor ailments, loneliness or other queries that the Community Connector team can help with instead.”

Patients who access the service will be offered up to six sessions at an appropriate group or activity and be helped to make those changes longtime in their lives.

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