The National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP) is a charity who aim to help people live the best life they can through social prescribing.  Last year they published new evidence briefing social prescribing: arts, heritage, and culture.

The evidence supports the important role of arts, heritage and culture play in strategies to support health and wellbeing, including through social prescribing, and especially for those living with long term conditions and/or experiencing health inequalities. It highlights the importance of collaboration across health and culture and that demand is increasing along with some of the challenges and areas of concern such as that those who live in deprived areas having less access to community resources.

It outlines that co-design and co-production appear to be effective ways to implementing arts, heritage and culture programmes within primary care and social prescribing.  A key element that comes up is the need for effective partnerships with stakeholders and community organisations alongside ‘buy in’ by frontline workers and partnerships with arts practitioners and community assets such as museums, cafes, libraries, galleries, theatres etc.

In summery is agreed that there is a large body of evidence showing that taking part in arts and culture can lead to a wide range of health and wellbeing benefits, however, there is a need to publicise and share this evidence more widely in order to effect change’?

This is one of many evidence reports available from the National Academy for Social prescribing, Find out more and read the reports at Evidence – National Academy for Social Prescribing | NASP (socialprescribingacademy.org.uk)

NASP support a range of grassroots groups and national charities who offer socially prescribed activities, connect the health system to the work that’s happening in communities, help medical professionals, including Social Prescribing Link Workers and students, work with leading researchers to build more evidence for social prescribing, develop effective new approaches to common problems and champion social prescribing across the world.

Their latest public campaign, Social Prescribing & Me, aims to raise awareness about the incredible impact social prescribing can have on people’s lives. You can follow it on #SocialPrescribingAndMe.