Over the last few months, our Head of Digital Systems Sonia Townend has been working with Northern Health Futures Hub, otherwise known as NortHFutures, and Dr Matt Cooper, a researcher from Newcastle University, to pilot a series of workshops designed to help those involved in social prescribing to harness the information at their fingertips so they can use it to secure more opportunities.

With several of these learning clinics having now taken place, in this blog post Sonia tells us about the themes the team has encountered so far.

Hear from our Perioperative Social Prescribing (PROSPeR) project partner Angela Telford, a Specialist Inpatient Pain Nurse with the ‘Waiting Well’ team at The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, who sat down with us to explain how the type of support advocated by Ways to Wellness through all our prototypes, is making a huge difference to patients waiting for surgery.

The term innovation is used a lot when talking about health these days. Frequently coupled with digital and the evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is often viewed only through a technical lens, and technological advancements are undoubtedly part of the picture. But valuable aspects that can be overlooked in this conversation include creativity, collaboration and co-production, which can be equally crucial to advancement.

Ways to Wellness is thrilled to announce the expansion of one of our most impactful projects.

The Innovation Challenge Fund by NHS Charities Together has granted Newcastle Hospitals Charity £200,000to support a partnership with Ways to Wellness to further expand our SPACE Pilot project, a collaboration with the Great North Children’s Hospital that sees social prescribing link workers placed alongside clinicians treating children with chronic conditions. 

The move comes after an evaluation by researchers that proved the positive impact of the pilot’s work so far.