CHE Seminar Series: Can social prescribing ease healthcare demand pressures?
Pressure for appointments in primary care in England has been rising, driven by both a reduced supply of general practitioners (GPs) and increasing patient demand. To address these pressures, NHS England expanded the primary care workforce, including the national roll-out of social prescribing link workers in July 2019. Using linked patient records from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (Aurum), we examined 168,434 patients referred to social prescribing between July 2019 and March 2022, matched to 1,310,723 similar control patients. We assessed the impact of referrals on subsequent healthcare use and costs using lagged dependent variable models for primary and secondary care. In the six months following referral, patients had an average of around two additional healthcare contacts, representing a 22% increase compared with controls. This was primarily GP appointments. By one-year, overall contacts largely stabilised, with a small increase of 1.5% and a reduction in GP appointments. While not currently cost-saving, these findings suggest social prescribing may help moderate long-term demand on primary care, but not secondary care.
Speaker profile
Dr Anna Wilding is a Research Fellow in Health Economics at the University of Manchester, UK. Her research primarily focuses on primary care, including workforce, financial incentives, resource use, and patient experience. Her broader interests include social participation, women’s health, labour economics, and mental health, particularly how health inequalities intersect across these areas.
Weekly seminar series
As part of our Centre's vibrant research culture, we host a weekly seminar series. Visiting and invited researchers present current research relating to the economics of health and wellbeing, and the healthcare sector. Visitors are welcome to join these sessions where discussion and debate is encouraged.
For further information on our seminar series, please contact Trong-Anh.Trinh@monash.edu
Event Details
- Date:
- 22 October 2025 at 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
- Venue:
- Caulfield campus, Building H, level 9, room H9.14
- Categories:
- CHE Seminar; General
Description
Pressure for appointments in primary care in England has been rising, driven by both a reduced supply of general practitioners (GPs) and increasing patient demand. To address these pressures, NHS England expanded the primary care workforce, including the national roll-out of social prescribing link workers in July 2019. Using linked patient records from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (Aurum), we examined 168,434 patients referred to social prescribing between July 2019 and March 2022, matched to 1,310,723 similar control patients. We assessed the impact of referrals on subsequent healthcare use and costs using lagged dependent variable models for primary and secondary care. In the six months following referral, patients had an average of around two additional healthcare contacts, representing a 22% increase compared with controls. This was primarily GP appointments. By one-year, overall contacts largely stabilised, with a small increase of 1.5% and a reduction in GP appointments. While not currently cost-saving, these findings suggest social prescribing may help moderate long-term demand on primary care, but not secondary care.
Speaker profile
Dr Anna Wilding is a Research Fellow in Health Economics at the University of Manchester, UK. Her research primarily focuses on primary care, including workforce, financial incentives, resource use, and patient experience. Her broader interests include social participation, women’s health, labour economics, and mental health, particularly how health inequalities intersect across these areas.
Weekly seminar series
As part of our Centre's vibrant research culture, we host a weekly seminar series. Visiting and invited researchers present current research relating to the economics of health and wellbeing, and the healthcare sector. Visitors are welcome to join these sessions where discussion and debate is encouraged.
For further information on our seminar series, please contact Trong-Anh.Trinh@monash.edu