Community Hub awarded £120,000

Partners from across Scotland and Northern Ireland will be brought together, in this, the largest and first cross country project of its kind.

Scottish Communities for Health and Wellbeing (SCHW) and the Northern Ireland Healthy Living Centre Alliance (HLCA) have come together as a partnership to deliver the project. Each represents a network of community-led organisations working to deliver better health and wellbeing outcomes with and for local people.

Social prescribing links primary medical care to community based resources and local support services and is backed by a social model for health. This recognises that good health and wellbeing are influenced by a wide range of factors.

Local medical and social work professionals, including GPs and practice nurses, will be able to use social prescribing to refer patients who are isolated or experiencing loneliness or presenting with social psychological and anxiety symptoms.

Healthy Valleys has been tackling health inequalities within the rural South Lanarkshire area since 2005. Based in Lockhart Community Hub, Lockhart Hospital in Lanark, the staff and volunteer team provide a wide range of activities and support to people of all ages from early years to later life.

Lesley McCranor, Executive Manager said: “Healthy Valleys has been successfully delivering a social prescribing model alongside a local GP Practice for the past two years. This Award from The Big Lottery will allow us to continue to develop and expand this model in the rural area and help support more people to improve their health and wellbeing.”

Maureen McGinn, Big Lottery Fund Scotland Chair, said: “Thanks to National Lottery players, this project will be able to make a big difference to people across Scotland and NI to help improve lives.”