An evaluation of a student allied health professions’ social prescribing scheme

Purpose: Social prescribing is a core part of healthcare policy within the NHS and requires support and contributions from all healthcare professionals, including Allied Healthcare Professionals (AHPs). The well-established medical student-led social prescribing student champion scheme (SPSCS) has been expanded to include AHPs, and AHP champions were recruited to deliver peer-led activities focused on social prescribing. This article aimed to evaluate the impact of the scheme's expansion on AHP students. Method: Fourteen AHP champions ran 21 activities that reached 524 students. Those participating in the champion-led activities were asked to complete pre- and post-session surveys to capture the impact of the sessions on their awareness of, knowledge of, and confidence with clinically applying social prescribing. Participants also rated the opportunity for multi-disciplinary interaction and overall experience of the champion led activities. Results: It was found that participant’s post-session scores for awareness, understanding and confidence were higher than post-session scores. Further, post-session survey results showed that participants enjoyed and felt they had been able to experience multi-disciplinary interaction at events. Conclusions: In summary, the evaluation of the AHP SPSCS highlights the value of student-led peer teaching in helping to raise awareness and understanding about social prescribing for AHP students, whilst acknowledging the need to expand the scheme’s reach in the future.