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NHS England is working with commissioners, practitioners, providers, evaluators and other stakeholder groups to work towards a consensus on what outcomes should be measured to show the impacts of social prescribing.

This will enable local social prescribing connector schemes across the country to capture core outcome data, which will create a strong evidence base, support the business case and build a national picture on the impact of social prescribing.

Social prescribing is still a relatively new innovation and at present there is no standard framework for measuring impacts. Capturing lessons about social prescribing schemes are further complicated by the organic nature of the growth in social prescribing schemes across the country, with different terminology and models used.

To inform and shape the development of the draft common outcomes framework outlined above, NHS England is looking to engage with commissioners, practitioners and academics working on social prescribing to better understand what is already being captured, what the challenges are and what support NHS England can offer through the framework.

Team Elemental welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the development of the NHS common outcomes framework for social prescribing. It’s another step closer to helping demonstrate the impacts of social prescribing. To have your say, please answer the questions outlined in the Common Outcomes Framework and return to england.socialprescribing@nhs.net