Social prescription tool to be rolled out nationwide

An ‘eSocial Prescription’ tool which helps patients to manage their health conditions more easily by giving them peer support and personalised resources is being rolled out nationwide.

The tool by health social network HealthUnlocked is said to reduce the burden on the NHS by giving patients access to content and peer-support to help them manage their health conditions.

An independent study of HealthUnlocked users by the University of Manchester showed a 41 per cent increase in people staying away from the GP and a 42 per cent decrease in people visiting A&E.
 
HealthUnlocked’s eSocial Prescription tool provides a digital solution powered by a database of helpful resources, editorial content and peer-support communities, all focused around specific health conditions such as cancer or heart disease as well as wellbeing needs such as how to quit smoking.

 
As the first stage of a national rollout, HealthUnlocked partnered with Care City and eSocial prescribing has been successfully incorporated into EMIS, the GP patient management system. eSocial prescriptions are now being used by 163 GPs across 38 practices in Barking and Dagenham, with HealthUnlocked in advanced discussions with other London boroughs for implementation. Thousands of personalised eSocial prescriptions have been emailed to patients, of whom 90 percent have viewed their recommendations and 84 percent have actively clicked on resources.
 
Jorge Armanet, CEO and co-founder of HealthUnlocked, commented: “The eSocial prescription tool is an important ingredient in building the bridge between healthcare and self-care. The NHS remains under tremendous pressure and innovation will be the key to effective resource management. After a successful trial period in London, we want to establish this initiative on a national level.”
 
The database used in eSocial prescriptions is curated in partnership with patient organisations such as The British Heart Foundation as well as the NHS Choice Framework (previously NHS Choices). The entire process happens within a bespoke dashboard for physicians, which once activated, triggers an email to the patient. When the patient opens the email, it takes them to their personalised recommendations page featuring content relevant to their conditions — they are then able to interact with the content and also join HealthUnlocked, the social network for health.