Assessing the impact of social prescribing on health service utilisation: Evidence from the UK
Bu, F.; Kurland, J. S.; Hayes, D.; Fancourt, D.
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Social prescribing (SP) is growing rapidly in the United Kingdom and internationally. However, the evidence for its impact is still limited. Drawing pre-post data from longitudinal administrative records (n=4,547), this study aimed to investigate whether SP has the potential to reduce health service utilisation in both primary and secondary care settings. The outcomes were measured using self-reported GP visits, A&E attendances and hospital admissions in the last three months. Data were analysed using Bayesian growth curve modelling, with Poisson or hurdle lognormal models tailored to the specific outcome. Our findings demonstrate consistent patterns of reduced health service utilisation across all outcome measures and model components. Specifically, GP attendance decreased by an average of 1 visit per person (95% CI: -1.07 to -0.95) in three months following SP (53.1% reduction). A&E attendance decreased by 0.04 admissions per person (95% CI: -0.06 to -0.03), equivalent to a 62.6% reduction. And hospital admissions decreased by 0.03 admission per person (95% CI: -0.03 to -0.02), equivalent to a 61.7% reduction. We found limited evidence that the health service utilisation changes differ across socio-demographic groups, indicating a broad applicability of SP interventions.
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