The benefits of social prescribing

This student led event was held by the newly created Dundee University Social Medicine Society, otherwise known as DUSMS, and aimed to educate and promote to healthcare students and staff about the value of social prescribing and the different services in Tayside. 

The evening was jam packed with exciting talks from guest speakers in the Gannochy Trust Lecture Theatre followed by a fayre in the Ian Lowe Centre with lots of local organisations to showcase the work they do in the community. 

Part 1 welcomed two primary care link workers Graham and Liam McGinlay who delivered a talk about their role and how they support patients in their journey to better health and wellbeing. They discussed real life case studies and the journey of accessing services provided by the Sources of Support team in Dundee. 

This was followed by Dr Rebecca Forrester, Dr Edmun Rhatigan and colleagues from the Newfield GP practice in Whitfield who presented us with ‘social prescribing… just what the doctor ordered!’ all about how Newfield are the first GP practice in the UK to become a member of the Co-operatives UK. They talked about the practice model and the journey to social prescribing through setting up a local charity and securing a social prescribing hub. 

Part 2, titled ‘What’s on offer in Tayside?’ involved lots of local organisations who ran stalls to showcase the incredible work they do for members of the community. A total of 17 organisations, as well as the primary care link worker or social prescribing teams from Dundee, Angus and Perth & Kinross attended. This provided an opportunity for bridges to be built between healthcare and the local services. 

The feedback from the event has been overwhelmingly positive! 90% of attendees felt they had a good/excellent knowledge of social prescribing and local services following the event and it was overall rated 4.69 out of 5 stars. One attendee told us:

‘The whole event was excellent from start to finish, the introductions, the presentations, the information from the presentations and presentations and atmosphere was brilliant and very enjoyable. The stalls, the food and cakes were top notch! A brilliant evening from start to finish and will look forward to going next year.’

Since the event DUSMS has put together an online folder collating community service resources in Tayside which you can access here.

The DUSMS committee would like to give a special thank you to the University of Dundee School of Medicine Public Engagement team as well as the Medical Defence Union who provided funding towards refreshments and the overall running of this event – it couldn’t have gone ahead without their support. 

DUSMS hopes to see you at ‘All Things Social Prescribing – Tayside 2025’!