Advancing social prescribing in South Australia was the topic of a new think tank, hosted by the Caring Futures Institute and the Centre for Social Impact.
Social Prescribing is a referral pathway between healthcare and social and community services to address non-medical needs such as loneliness, social isolation, and housing, food, and financial insecurity.
Dr Candie Oster, from the Caring Futures Institutes, said that our health system is often not equipped to meet the non-medical needs of patients, which is having an impact on healthcare professionals.
“It is causing burnout, vicarious trauma, and compassion fatigue. Social Prescribing is a way to integrate across systems to better support people’s health and wellbeing.”
The inaugural ‘’Think Tank on the Future of Social Prescribing in South Australia’ was held at Flinders City Campus at the beginning of October, and brought together key stakeholders across the healthcare, social care, and community sectors to work together to design, implement, and evaluate social prescribing.
Centre for Social Impact’s Professor Svetlana Bogomolova said it was wonderful to see key stakeholders such as Department of Human Services, Primary Health Networks, Local Government, and SA Health coming together to better support Australians experiencing vulnerability.
“Australian health and social sectors are plagued by silos, disconnection, duplication, or gaps in services which result in people falling through the cracks of systems and suffering needlessly. So, the Think Tank is a critical mechanism for facilitating ways to work together to address the social determinants that impact on the health and wellbeing of Australians.”
Dr Oster shares the event was a great opportunity to share information and start the conversation about how the healthcare, social care, and community sectors can work together to advance social prescribing in South Australia.
“We’re looking forward to further Think Tank events around specific issues that need to be addressed collaboratively for social prescribing to be successful.”