(Webinar) Meeting Social Needs in an Integrated Health System: Social Prescribing During COVID-19 and Beyond

On May 27 at 12:30 pm, the Alliance for Healthier Communities and James Sanderson, Director of Personalised Care at NHS England, will be hosting a webinar focused on Social Prescribing.

As Ontario continues to grapple with the impacts of COVID-19, the importance of integrating health care and social supports is more critical than ever. While it is heartening to hear so many stories of informal community care, mutual aid and caremongering already underway across local communities, we must act now to ensure that these important gains continues to be deepened and strengthened in formal healthcare and community support delivery.

As an intentional and evidence-informed pathway to better connect health and social care, and increasingly recognized as the next step in improving and better integrating health systems around the world, social prescribing offers a crucial path forward.

You will hear directly from James Sanderson, Director of Personalised Care at NHS England and interim CEO of UK National Academy for Social Prescribing, on how the innovative practice is being embedded sustainably across the UK and especially mobilized during this pandemic.

The webinar will also share key findings from Rx Community, Ontario’s first-in-Canada Social Prescribing research pilot. You will have the opportunity to hear directly from practitioners, clients and researchers who participated in Ontario’s pilot, and you will hear about why the time is right to scale social prescribing across Ontario and Canada to address social isolation and loneliness, improve mental health, reduce hallway medicine, and collaborate toward healthier and more resilient communities.

EVENT DETAILS

Date: Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Time: 12:30 pm to 2:00 pm

Registration: https://register.gotowebinar.c.../5214167120285892875

• Keynote by James Sanderson, Interim CEO, UK National Academy for Social Prescribing and Director of Personalised Care, National Health Service England
• Rx: Community – Social Prescribing in Ontario findings by
• Dr. Kate Mulligan, Director of Health & Social Policy, Alliance for Healthier Communities and Assistant Professor at Dalla Lana School of Public Health
• Dr. Jennifer Rayner, Director of Research & Evaluation, Alliance for Healthier Communities; Assistant Professor at Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto; Research Professor at Centre for Studies in Family Medicine, Western University