News from the Centre for Public Health and Wellbeing

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Click into Activity

A scheme funded by Sport England’s, Get Healthy Get Active fund, spearheaded by South Somerset District Council is being evaluated by researchers in the Public Health and Wellbeing Research Group, led by Professor Jane Powell, Group Lead.  The scheme is aimed at offering free exercise sessions to people in the local area who would otherwise not partake in any exercise activity.  Sessions are available over a 12 week period, and patients are referred by their GP.

Read more about the 'Click into Activity' scheme .

Group member presents case for Social Prescribing

Group member Dr Richard Kimberlee and fellow Steering Group members of the National Social Prescribing Network of Great Britain and Ireland presented their case for social prescribing, to the Health Select Committee at the House of Commons on 09 March 2016. The committee is currently chaired by Jan Walmesley MP and includes local MP, Ben Bradshaw.   In attendance was Rt. Hon. Alistair Burt, Minister of State for Community and Social Care and former Secretary of State Stephen Dorrell.

The Network presented evidence of the efficacy of social prescribing for improving primary care and lessening the burden on secondary care. The group is led by Dr Michael Dixon, elected chair of The College of Medicine. Michael co-founded one of the first Locality Commissioning Groups in Mid Devon in 1993 and served on the National Executive of the National Association of GPs before becoming the first chair of its successor organisation, the NHS Alliance, in 1998. Michael has been asked to talk at a Social Science and the City event in the Autumn.