ArticlePrimary health care research & development2019
Does a social prescribing 'holistic' link-worker for older people with complex, multimorbidity improve well-being and frailty and reduce health and social care use and costs? A 12-month before-and-after evaluation.
Article in Primary health care research & development, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Economic evidence related to the use of community assets in the management of frailty: a systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Working between systems: an umbrella review of care navigator roles and responsibilities.Frontiers in health services · 2025Pooled it
- Outcomes and instruments used in social prescribing: a modified umbrella review.Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice · 2024Pooled it
- Critical components of social prescribing programmes with a focus on older adults - a systematic review.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2023Pooled it
- Organisation and integrated healthcare approaches for people living with HIV, multimorbidity, or both: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2023Pooled it
- Social prescribing outcomes: a mapping review of the evidence from 13 countries to identify key common outcomes.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Pooled it
- What Works to Improve Wellbeing? A Rapid Systematic Review of 223 Interventions Evaluated with the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scales.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Systematic review of social prescribing and older adults: where to from here?Family medicine and community health · 2022Pooled it
- Can Social Prescribing Foster Individual and Community Well-Being? A Systematic Review of the Evidence.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Navigating the national rollout: examining Primary Care Network link workers and the integration of local social prescribing models in Redbridge.Primary health care research & development · 2026Article
- Harms and Negative or Unintended Consequences of Social Prescribing: A Scoping Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Effects of Social Prescribing for Older Adults: An Evidence and Gap Map.Campbell systematic reviews · 2026Review
- Accessibility and use of social prescribing interventions by minority ethnic groups in the United Kingdom: a scoping review.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- A retrospective observational study of characteristics and outcomes of older patients referred to a hospital-based social prescribing programme.Frontiers in public health · 2026Observational
- Models, implementation, and reported outcomes of social prescribing interventions: a scoping review.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Prerequisites for social prescribing in Swedish primary care - stakeholders' perspectives.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2025Article
- Variations in social care need reporting amongst GP practices in England: a retrospective cohort study in people with multimorbidity.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- GPs' views on green social prescribing in Scotland: analysis of a national cross-sectional survey.BJGP open · 2025Article
- Social prescribing for informal carers: a pre-post study.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Social prescribing for people living with long-term health conditions: a scoping review.Systematic reviews · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
aimTo evaluate the impact of 'holistic' link-workers on service users' well-being, activation and frailty, and their use of health and social care services and the associated costs.
backgroundUK policy is encouraging social prescribing (SP) as a means to improve well-being, self-care and reduce demand on the NHS and social services. However, the evidence to support this policy is generally weak and poorly conceptualised, particularly in relation to frail, older people and patient activation. Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, an integrated care organisation, commissioned a Well-being Co-ordinator service to support older adults (≥50 years) with complex health needs (≥2 long-term conditions), as part of its service redesign.
methodsA before-and-after study measuring health and social well-being, activation and frailty at 12 weeks and primary, community and secondary care service use and cost at 12 months prior and after intervention.
findingsMost of the 86 participants achieved their goals (85%). On average health and well-being, patient activation and frailty showed a statistically significant improvement in mean score. Mean activity increased for all services (some changes were statistically significant). Forty-four per cent of participants saw a decrease in service use or no change. Thirteen high-cost users (>£5000 change in costs) accounted for 59% of the overall cost increase. This was largely due to significant, rapid escalation in morbidity and frailty. Co-ordinators played a valuable key-worker role, improving the continuity of care, reducing isolation and supporting carers. No entry-level participant characteristic was associated with change in well-being or service use. Larger, better conceptualised, controlled studies are needed to strengthen claims of causality and develop national policy in this area.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.