Building Back Primary Care and Public Health Webinar 9: Embedding social welfare advice services in primary care

Welcome back to our Building Back Better in Primary Care and Public Health webinar series.

Hear from Dr Cheryl Lowes, GP and community development lead for primary care in Liverpool, Debbie Nolan, Health Lead for Citizens Advice Liverpool and Clare Mahoney, Senior Programme Manager at Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

Since 2014 Liverpool CCG has funded an Advice on Prescription Service in collaboration with Liverpool Citizens Advice. The programme allows all Liverpool GPs to refer patients for social welfare advice including housing, employment support, debt issues and benefits advice.

An evaluation of referrals between 2016-18 found the service led to income maximisation of £6.7 million with an average increase in household income for each patient referred of £762. 77% of patients referred reported an increase in capacity to manage their own physical and/or mental health and 23% reported an improvement to their housing security including avoiding eviction.

With rising costs of living likely to push more people into poverty and debt we will hear how programmes such as this can mitigate such harms and ensure primary care provides holistic care while tackling inequalities.

The talks will last around 45 minutes followed by around 30 minutes of questions and may be followed by a short meeting of the Primary Care and Public Health Special Interest Group to reflect on the discussion and review SIG work programmes.