What is the service and who is it for?

Ways to Wellness is a social prescribing service for people with long-term health conditions, aged 18 to 74 years, who live in Newcastle upon Tyne and are registered with a partipating GP practice. Ways to Wellness provides non-medical support through a dedicated Link Worker who will work with you in the areas that you feel you most need support. The service aims to help and support you to better manage your long-term condition.

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Who is it for?

Ways to Wellness is for people aged 18 to 74 with certain long-term health conditions who attend GP practices in the east and west of Newcastle.

The long-term health conditions are:

• Chronic breathing difficulties (COPD) or Asthma
• Diabetes (type 1 or type 2)
• Heart disease
• Epilepsy
• Thinning of the bones (osteoporosis)
• Hypertension
• Pre-diabetes (non-diabetic hyperglycaemia)
• Osteoarthritis of the hip/knee
• Any of the above with depression and/or anxiety

Click here for a list of participating GP practices.

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Response to Coronavirus

In response to the coronavirus, Ways to Wellness has adapted its social prescribing service delivery to continue to provide a service remotely to patients. All link workers have transitioned to home-based working, with appropriate data security in place. Link workers are delivering telephone or video-enabled social prescribing services to current patients and accepting new referrals to the service for patients who are registered with a GP practice in the east and west of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Our link workers have adapted their role to respond to the unique needs that people are facing during this situation. In addition to continuing to support people to self-manage their health and wellbeing, several key areas of further support are being provided in response to the coronavirus:

• providing emotional and psychosocial support during isolation and loss of routines
• helping people to access provisions or supplies (e.g. food, medications)
• providing a crisis response – for example, with self-harm or domestic violence – involving other services as indicated
• informing and connecting people to emerging offers, for example helping them to register online for support
• helping patients to understand evolving government guidance and public health advice in order to apply it to their own situations
• helping patients understand changes to benefits and other financial aid.

How does it work? Click here for more information about how it works and how you will benefit.