Words ELEANOR WILSON

 When Anne Potten’s GP asked her when she planned to retire, she was horrifi ed, asking ‘What on earth would I do with myself?’ Anne, then 64, worked part-time in between

caring for her disabled husband. She was also dealing with her stepmother’s recent death, which had left her dad alone and struggling with what would turn out to be Alzheimer’s disease.

‘You need to fi nd something just for you,’ Anne’s GP told her. She suggested Zumba dance-fi tness classes or the WI. Anne joined Kempshott WI, Hampshire Federation and, fi ve years later, she hasn’t looked back.

‘I was co-opted on to the committee after about six months so I have made new friends and old friends have joined us too. The support from members is great, especially when Dad was fi rst diagnosed,’ says Anne, who last year performed with Kempshott WI (‘a huge hit!’) at the Hampshire Federation Performing Arts Competition. She credits her doctor with getting her there.

Anne’s story taps into a growing trend. She was one of many who visit their GP or A&E department with medical symptoms

that disguise underlying social problems: housing issues, money worries, addiction, isolation, or, like Anne, loneliness and the need for human connection and support during a diffi cult time.

‘Social prescribing’, the subject of an investment of almost £4.5 million last year by the UK government into NHS England, is an effort to help patients deal with these social symptoms, instead of funnelling them into the medical system.

In its most basic form, social prescribing is about suggesting positive lifestyle changes rather than – or sometimes alongside – medical treatment. ‘It’s the only thing I’ve seen in 30 years that I could truly say is a transformative offer. It helps people get from a very diffi cult, dark, let-down sense of failure to a place of hope and vision and possibility – and sometimes a new identity altogether,’ says Dr Marie Anne Essam, a GP in South Oxhey in South West Hertfordshire and a social prescribing ambassador for the NHS. She played a key role in designing and building the NHS social prescribing scheme.

Dr Essam says ‘de-medicalisation’ gives patients back their independence. Diagnosing patients straight away with

LAUGHTER CAN BE THE BEST MEDICINESOMETIMES WHAT YOU NEED FROM YOUR DOCTOR ISN’T A

PILL, BUT SOMEONE TO TALK TO. WI LIFE INVESTIGATES THE RISE OF ‘SOCIAL PRESCRIBING ’ AND HOW YOUR WI CAN HELP

26 WI LIFE FEBRUARY 2020

treatable conditions can encourage them to defi ne themselves by what’s wrong with them, rather than what they can do and the opportunities they have.

‘The medical stuff is important, but [as a healthcare professional], probably 10-20 per cent of your help is medical,’ she explains. ‘When we explore the non-medical things, suddenly the medical aspects become much more manageable.’ Dr Essam stresses that ‘de-medicalising isn’t about not practising medicine where medicine is needed; it’s about stopping defi ning people by diagnosis and giving them their lives back’.

It also takes some of the load off the healthcare system – even for people with existing medical issues. A Nottingham Trent University study published in December 2019 found that social prescribing for chronically ill patients, such as encouraging them to join community groups, resulted in 25 per cent fewer healthcare appointments.

Anne’s GP made her own recommendations but, in the current NHS system, GPs refer social-prescribing patients to a link worker who will sit down with them and fi nd out what might help – it could be anything from debt management or mental health support groups, to weekly low-cost lunch clubs, to specialised interests like art or sport, plus of course, the WI.

They’ll always work together to fi nd local groups that the patient can access – depending on their budget, transport needs and ability. The link worker will arrange a visit ahead of time, offer a lift if transport is a problem, and also accompany

them if they’re worried about walking in on their own. Sandra Knight is the President of West End Girls, Sankey

Valley WI, Cheshire Federation, and is currently a ‘wellbeing worker’ for Warrington Borough Council, specialising in support and social prescribing for dementia patients and their carers. She was previously a social care link worker for all GP social-prescribing referrals in South Warrington.

‘I’ve had 93-year-old widows who’ve never done anything without their husbands,’ she says. ‘We take anybody who’s aged over 18. It doesn’t really matter what their problems are, that’s not what we focus on: it’s how we can solve them.’

One of Sandra’s clients was a man in his 40s who was losing the will to keep going after a series of strokes left him paralysed on one side. ‘He thought I would look at his disability, not the person,’ Sandra remembers. ‘I asked him what he was interested in and he was completely taken aback.’

Sandra set him up with a local photography club, including a couple of practice sessions to be confi dent about taking the bus alone, and soon he was showing the group prints of his photos and accepting offers of lifts to meetings.

For women, Sandra often recommends nearby Stretton WI, also Cheshire Federation. It has implemented a buddy system for visitors and new members to sit with them, chat and show them the ropes, which has been invaluable for her clients. ‘The women who have gone to the WI now have a focus,’ she says.

It’s especially easy to become isolated or develop poor WI LIFE FEBRUARY 2020 27

Words ELEANOR WILSON

 When Anne Potten’s GP asked her when she planned to retire, she was horrifi ed, asking ‘What on earth would I do with myself?’ Anne, then 64, worked part-time in between

caring for her disabled husband. She was also dealing with her stepmother’s recent death, which had left her dad alone and struggling with what would turn out to be Alzheimer’s disease.

‘You need to fi nd something just for you,’ Anne’s GP told her. She suggested Zumba dance-fi tness classes or the WI. Anne joined Kempshott WI, Hampshire Federation and, fi ve years later, she hasn’t looked back.

‘I was co-opted on to the committee after about six months so I have made new friends and old friends have joined us too. The support from members is great, especially when Dad was fi rst diagnosed,’ says Anne, who last year performed with Kempshott WI (‘a huge hit!’) at the Hampshire Federation Performing Arts Competition. She credits her doctor with getting her there.

Anne’s story taps into a growing trend. She was one of many who visit their GP or A&E department with medical symptoms

that disguise underlying social problems: housing issues, money worries, addiction, isolation, or, like Anne, loneliness and the need for human connection and support during a diffi cult time.

‘Social prescribing’, the subject of an investment of almost £4.5 million last year by the UK government into NHS England, is an effort to help patients deal with these social symptoms, instead of funnelling them into the medical system.

In its most basic form, social prescribing is about suggesting positive lifestyle changes rather than – or sometimes alongside – medical treatment. ‘It’s the only thing I’ve seen in 30 years that I could truly say is a transformative offer. It helps people get from a very diffi cult, dark, let-down sense of failure to a place of hope and vision and possibility – and sometimes a new identity altogether,’ says Dr Marie Anne Essam, a GP in South Oxhey in South West Hertfordshire and a social prescribing ambassador for the NHS. She played a key role in designing and building the NHS social prescribing scheme.

Dr Essam says ‘de-medicalisation’ gives patients back their independence. Diagnosing patients straight away with

LAUGHTER CAN BE THE BEST MEDICINESOMETIMES WHAT YOU NEED FROM YOUR DOCTOR ISN’T A

PILL, BUT SOMEONE TO TALK TO. WI LIFE INVESTIGATES THE RISE OF ‘SOCIAL PRESCRIBING ’ AND HOW YOUR WI CAN HELP

26 WI LIFE FEBRUARY 2020

treatable conditions can encourage them to defi ne themselves by what’s wrong with them, rather than what they can do and the opportunities they have.

‘The medical stuff is important, but [as a healthcare professional], probably 10-20 per cent of your help is medical,’ she explains. ‘When we explore the non-medical things, suddenly the medical aspects become much more manageable.’ Dr Essam stresses that ‘de-medicalising isn’t about not practising medicine where medicine is needed; it’s about stopping defi ning people by diagnosis and giving them their lives back’.

It also takes some of the load off the healthcare system – even for people with existing medical issues. A Nottingham Trent University study published in December 2019 found that social prescribing for chronically ill patients, such as encouraging them to join community groups, resulted in 25 per cent fewer healthcare appointments.

Anne’s GP made her own recommendations but, in the current NHS system, GPs refer social-prescribing patients to a link worker who will sit down with them and fi nd out what might help – it could be anything from debt management or mental health support groups, to weekly low-cost lunch clubs, to specialised interests like art or sport, plus of course, the WI.

They’ll always work together to fi nd local groups that the patient can access – depending on their budget, transport needs and ability. The link worker will arrange a visit ahead of time, offer a lift if transport is a problem, and also accompany

them if they’re worried about walking in on their own. Sandra Knight is the President of West End Girls, Sankey

Valley WI, Cheshire Federation, and is currently a ‘wellbeing worker’ for Warrington Borough Council, specialising in support and social prescribing for dementia patients and their carers. She was previously a social care link worker for all GP social-prescribing referrals in South Warrington.

‘I’ve had 93-year-old widows who’ve never done anything without their husbands,’ she says. ‘We take anybody who’s aged over 18. It doesn’t really matter what their problems are, that’s not what we focus on: it’s how we can solve them.’

One of Sandra’s clients was a man in his 40s who was losing the will to keep going after a series of strokes left him paralysed on one side. ‘He thought I would look at his disability, not the person,’ Sandra remembers. ‘I asked him what he was interested in and he was completely taken aback.’

Sandra set him up with a local photography club, including a couple of practice sessions to be confi dent about taking the bus alone, and soon he was showing the group prints of his photos and accepting offers of lifts to meetings.

For women, Sandra often recommends nearby Stretton WI, also Cheshire Federation. It has implemented a buddy system for visitors and new members to sit with them, chat and show them the ropes, which has been invaluable for her clients. ‘The women who have gone to the WI now have a focus,’ she says.

It’s especially easy to become isolated or develop poor WI LIFE FEBRUARY 2020 27

mental health when fi nances are low. Dr Essam notes that people on a tight budget tend to bring problems to their GP fi rst, or even try to ‘medicalise’ a non-medical issue, because GP visits are free and they don’t know where else to turn.

A lot of Sandra’s clients are old-age pensioners or those living on benefi ts, so most of the activities she recommends need to be low-cost or free. She typically works with each referral for one to three months, but she doesn’t sit with her client when she takes them to a lunch or a meeting – they are there so they can connect with other people and fi nd their own way.

Deborah Sanders of Beaconsfi eld WI, Buckinghamshire Federation, says funding is the ‘big issue’ with social prescribing. She’s a patient advocate, a trustee of newly formed social prescribing charity Better Connected Beaconsfi eld, and a former radiographer within the NHS.

‘A social prescriber has no budget,’ she explains, adding that her suggestion is for the WI to implement a visiting membership rate for women who have been referred through their GPs.

‘If you are in fi nancial need, you [might] go to your GP because the money situation is making you depressed. The GP can offer you a prescription for antidepressants, which will be free because you are on benefi ts, or ask you to pay to join a gym. What would you do?

‘Nobody can benefi t from social prescribing unless they can access the suggested activity: local buses are crucial,’ she adds, echoing the WI’s 2019 campaign Get on Board for a Better Bus Service.

The NHS England investment for social-prescribing schemes is meant to fund the salaries of 1,000 new link workers by 2021, as well as giving a boost to 23 selected community services and charities to handle a growing number of referrals.

Dr Essam, who still remembers singing Jerusalem at a WI meeting with her mum at age 10, is keen for the WI to play a bigger roleas a local resource.

‘The WI has a great heart for including people, showcasing what individuals can do,’ she says. ‘In rural communities, I think the WI’s particular strength would be combatting loneliness and that sense of not having anywhere to belong.’

Dr Essam adds that retired WI members who are active in their communities and have built up plenty of local contacts might have hidden talents as link workers themselves.

The WI’s Link Together to End Loneliness campaign has a lot in common with the ethos behind social prescribing.

In essence, it’s about helping others fi nd a way forward – helping them to fi nd their ‘tribe’, a place to belong. ‘The idea of social prescribing isn’t new,’ says Justine Mason, a member of Erddig WI, Clwyd-Denbigh Federation, and a qualifi ed mental health nurse. Justine leads the Mental Health and Wellbeing BSc

degree programme at Wrexham Glyndwr University, including short courses in social prescribing.

‘As a mental health nurse, this is often a key element of discharge planning,’ she explains. ‘(Social prescribing) is occasionally something that I also do with students – referring

or signposting them to other services. We can all “do” social prescribing, even among friends.’

If this is sounding like something you or your WI would like to get involved with as a community resource, start by talking to your GP’s surgery or your local authorities.

Each scheme is put together differently, either being provided by the council or by independent non-profi t organisations.

Whether an organisation receives social-prescribing referrals depends fi rstly on whether local link workers are aware of it, and then on how well it meets the community’s needs.

‘Social prescribing is only ever effective if there is an active network of organisations to refer people to,’ says Justine. Perhaps your WI could be one of those. She advises WIs to keep in mind that visitors might be nervous, and even more so if they’re struggling with anxiety or loneliness – but the best way to welcome them

is just to accept them like any other new member.‘On the other hand, it may be a great relief to be among

a friendly, welcoming and empathic group of women, and not challenging at all,’ she says.

‘Perhaps you could make contact in advance to ask if there is anything particular that they might fi nd useful to help them take the fi rst step in their whole new life.’

Dr Marie Anne Essam says she hopes the current interest in social prescribing is the start of a more holistic, less medicalised society. ‘Social prescribing is a catalyst for so many things that a lot of us believe are really important for our future,’ she says.

‘I hope that we’ll start to understand the power of volunteering and community connectedness… that we will look at one another in terms of what we can do and how we can grow.’

TAKING THE NEXT STEP• To fi nd out if your WI can help with the local social prescribing network, contact your local GP surgery and the council as a starting point.

• Get involved in WI campaigns that tackle the issues of social isolation and mental health: Get on Board for a Better Bus Service, Make Time for Mental Health and Link Together to Alleviate Loneliness. For ideas, visit thewi.org.uk/campaigns, email pa@nfwi.org.uk or call the Public A­ airs team: 020 7371 9300.

• Make 2020 the year your WI focuses on welcoming new members from your community whose lives may benefi t from the fellowship of women. We know how life-enhancing the WI can be, but now it’s time to spread the word. Contact your federation or NFWI for recruitment ideas, resources and support.

Socialising is key to alleviating loneliness

WI LIFE FEBRUARY 2020 29

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