Thursday 14th March is Social Prescribing Day, when people across the country are being encouraged to think about finding health solutions in their communities.
Who knows a community better than the people who live there?
Surveys show that Norfolk people want to see more community spirit in their towns and villages and more support for the most vulnerable. This is why Community Action Norfolk (CAN) has supported the set-up of around twenty Good Neighbour Schemes around the county.
When the National Health Service began in 1948, the UK population was 49.4 million. 70 years later the population stands at an estimated 66.5 million, an increase of more than 34%. People are living longer. Many are living with long term conditions such as diabetes and heart disease or suffer with mental health issues and may need to access their local health services more often.
Social prescribing is a way of enabling GPs, nurses and other health professionals to help people find non-medical solutions to personal health issues. It’s an holistic approach, which looks at the mental and physical needs of the person as a whole, not just the symptoms of a particular illness.
A briefing on the Primary Care Network and the five year GP contracts was given as part of a meeting of the STP (Sustainable Transformation Partnership) Primary Care Programme Board.
Around 92% of locations across Norfolk can receive fast broadband. That’s around 24 Mbps. And Better Broadband for Norfolk is working hard to increase that figure. You can check broadband availability in your area at www.betterbroadbandnorfolk.co.uk. That’s if you can get broadband in the first place of course…
