Social Prescribing

Project summary:

People present to a GP’s clinic for a number of different reasons, not all of which are clinical. Many individuals present to their GP’s with health issues that are essentially a social or welfare problem. In these cases, a GP may only have a limited and short-term impact with traditional clinical means. Social prescribing is a way that enables clinical professionals such as GPs, nurses, nurse practitioners and other primary care professionals to connect people into a range of local, non-clinical services or activities.

Social prescribing sees people as individuals, not a condition or disability and seek to address people’s needs in a holistic way. It also aims to support individuals who want to improve their situation to take greater control and self-manage their own health, particularly those with complex needs.

After a number of working group meetings with support from Latrobe City, Latrobe Community Health Service, Gippsland Primary Health Network and Monash University a feasibility study was conducted in the area throughout 2019 to determine how successful social prescribing would be within Latrobe City and to determine the best model to suit our community.

Following this consultation, the Latrobe Valley Social Prescribing model was piloted at the Hazelwood Health Centre in Churchill until March 2023. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the trial faced several setbacks that impacted the uptake of referrals from GPs and chronic care nurses. These setbacks led to an additional location being included in this project. In 2023,

Latrobe Community Health Service welcomed a community connector that has since been working in Traralgon, Warragul, Morwell and Churchill. This community connector can receive clients referred from any of LCHS’s health professionals and has been prescribing a wide range of activities and connecting clients with a variety of services available in Latrobe Valley to help improve their health and wellbeing.