Social prescribing for patients with severe mental illnesses: an English primary care longitudinal observational study
- 1Queen Mary University of London
Abstract
BackgroundPeople diagnosed with severe mental illnesses (SMI) including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and psychosis are disproportionately exposed to adverse social determinants of health, contributing to premature morbidity and mortality. Social prescribing aims to address social risk factors for poor health by linking patients in primary care to community activities. However, whether people with SMI access social prescribing through primary care remains unexplored.
AimsTo describe prevalence of, and sociodemographic characteristics associated with, social prescribing consultations in patients with SMI in primary care.
MethodsUsing the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink, we identified patients aged 18+ with a diagnosis of SMI between 2004-2019. We calculated the percentage of patients with SMI who received a social prescribing consultation between 2019-2023 and used logistic regression to examine associations between sociodemographic, health-related factors and social prescribing consultations and refusals. We used fixed effects analysis to determine whether a new diagnosis of SMI made between 2019-2023 was associated with an increased odds of receiving a social prescribing consultation.
ResultsAmong 112,334 patients with SMI, 0.8% received a social prescribing consultation in 2019 increasing to 9.5% in 2023. Between 2020-2023, older age (OR=1.18-2.34), being female (OR=1.16-1.31) and living in more deprived areas (OR=1.14-1.49) were associated with higher odds of receiving a social prescribing consultation amongst patients with SMI. Across all years, patients with SMI and depression (OR=1.32-1.92), diabetes (OR=1.19-1.35) or obesity (OR=1.17-1.54) also had increased odds. In 140,514 patients with time-varying SMI status, a new diagnosis of SMI was associated with higher odds of receiving a social prescribing consultation (OR=1.39, 95% CI 1.26-1.53).
ConclusionSince 2019, social prescribing consultations among patients with SMI in primary care have increased and are reaching those in areas of higher deprivation and with greater health needs. Strategies to remove barriers to consultations among younger adults and males are still needed.
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BibTeX
@misc{burton2026social,
title = {{Social prescribing for patients with severe mental illnesses: an English primary care longitudinal observational study}},
author = {A. Burton and N. Launders and A. E. Taylor and A. Richards-Belle and D. Osborn and S. Tierney and D. Fancourt and F. Bu},
howpublished = {medRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.01.26364429},
url = {https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.01.26364429v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Social prescribing for patients with severe mental illnesses: an English primary care longitudinal observational study
AU - A. Burton
AU - N. Launders
AU - A. E. Taylor
AU - A. Richards-Belle
AU - D. Osborn
AU - S. Tierney
AU - D. Fancourt
AU - F. Bu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
PB - medRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.01.26364429
UR - https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.01.26364429v1
AB - BackgroundPeople diagnosed with severe mental illnesses (SMI) including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and psychosis are disproportionately exposed to adverse social determinants of health, contributing to premature morbidity and mortality. Social prescribing aims to address social risk factors for poor health by linking patients in primary care to community activities. However, whether people with SMI access social prescribing through primary care remains unexplored. AimsTo describe prevalence of, and sociodemographic characteristics associated with, social prescribing consultations in patients with SMI in primary care. MethodsUsing the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink, we identified patients aged 18+ with a diagnosis of SMI between 2004-2019. We calculated the percentage of patients with SMI who received a social prescribing consultation between 2019-2023 and used logistic regression to examine associations between sociodemographic, health-related factors and social prescribing consultations and refusals. We used fixed effects analysis to determine whether a new diagnosis of SMI made between 2019-2023 was associated with an increased odds of receiving a social prescribing consultation. ResultsAmong 112,334 patients with SMI, 0.8% received a social prescribing consultation in 2019 increasing to 9.5% in 2023. Between 2020-2023, older age (OR=1.18-2.34), being female (OR=1.16-1.31) and living in more deprived areas (OR=1.14-1.49) were associated with higher odds of receiving a social prescribing consultation amongst patients with SMI. Across all years, patients with SMI and depression (OR=1.32-1.92), diabetes (OR=1.19-1.35) or obesity (OR=1.17-1.54) also had increased odds. In 140,514 patients with time-varying SMI status, a new diagnosis of SMI was associated with higher odds of receiving a social prescribing consultation (OR=1.39, 95% CI 1.26-1.53). ConclusionSince 2019, social prescribing consultations among patients with SMI in primary care have increased and are reaching those in areas of higher deprivation and with greater health needs. Strategies to remove barriers to consultations among younger adults and males are still needed.
ER -