In 2022, Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust became the first trust to go live with the Rio-Elemental integrated solution

The benefits that are being realised at the Trust around how social prescribing can help the growing number of people with worsening mental health due to social issues supports the case for developing a national social prescribing strategy, which was recently called for by the Health and Social Care Select Committee.

Before implementing the integrated solution, Mersey Care’s mental health clinicians were spending a significant amount of time manually prescribing social support daily, taking time away from delivering clinical interventions.

The time taken to meet an individual’s social needs has been cut down from 27 minutes to 8 minutes per appointment after implementing the integrated solution, as clinicians can refer service users to The Life Rooms more easily. 

This means clinicians are spending less time on administrative processes and more time seeing patients.

Currently, 28 clinical teams are utilising the social prescribing offering

The report also highlighted clinician satisfaction since implementing the integrated solution. 97.2% of clinicians said they felt confident they were meeting the social needs of service users since having access to the interoperable system.

The report also revealed that 94.4% of staff would recommend The Life Rooms service to their colleagues.

The integrated solution has helped to streamline the referral process, improving individual’s experience of the service and giving staff a more holistic view of each individual’s care journey.

It has also made it easier for The Life Rooms to work hand in hand with community mental health teams to deliver the best care possible.

Currently, 28 clinical teams are utilising the social prescribing offering, with 15 of them doing active referrals.

The data available via the integrated solution has been critical in enabling The Life Rooms to expand its geographical footprint and offer high-quality care to more people. 

Since going live with the integration in 2022, there have been 1,396 individuals referred to the Life Rooms

Since going live with the integration in 2022, there have been 1,396 individuals referred to the Life Rooms by clinical teams and over 2000 social prescriptions.

Teams at Mersey Care have also reviewed the data collected to understand the main social factors that are impacting people’s well-being so it can run the service more effectively, mitigating against social determinants of health such as fuel poverty and the cost of living crisis.

Michael Crilly, Director of Social Health and Community Inclusion at Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “By looking at the data available within the integrated system, teams can also closely map the social circumstances that are leading to individuals presenting in crisis and tackle these at the root source.”

“This can help us to deliver proactive support before health issues deteriorate further, rather than working on a more reactionary model of care,” Crilly concluded. 

The integrated solution has helped to streamline the referral process

Jardine Barrington-Cook, Head of Interoperability at Access HSC, said: “The interoperability of these two systems leading systems in their fields has been a key driver of the success at the trust, as highlighted in the findings of the report.”

“We are delighted that by working together, we have been able to transform the way services are delivered, improving individual outcomes. We look forward to seeing how this partnership continues to support the delivery of more person-centered care across the region,” Barrington-Cook concluded.