Promoting Green Social Prescribing across Yorkshire and Humber

Aims and Objectives

Green social prescribing (GSP) is an alternative and emerging practice whereby patients are supported to undertake nature-based activities to boost their health and wellbeing. GSP has considerable potential to enhance environmental sustainability, as well as providing beneficial health outcomes for individuals and communities. However, GP practices are reluctant to utilise this beneficial service due to lack of confidence, knowledge and awareness of GSP and how to signpost patients to it.

This project will expand an educational intervention developed by Dr Isobel Austin to GP practices across Yorkshire and Humber. It will combine interviews with GPs and other practice staff with data on prescriptions obtained from GP practice records, to determine the benefit of the intervention based in terms of increasing GP knowledge, awareness, and confidence utilising GSP, and changes in the number of GSP prescriptions made.

By evaluating the effectiveness and transferability of a simple educational intervention, the project has potential to bring high rewards in terms of the expanded use of GSP beyond the case study and inform the potential scalability of educational initiatives to benefit environment and healthcare nationwide.