Gardening on prescription on the rise

Gardening clubs are some of the groups people can be "socially prescribed" to attend

Tucked away behind Forton medical centre in Gosport is a community garden, which was once a former wasteland but now is filled with beautiful flower beds, fruit trees and raised vegetable patches.

It has been created by volunteers and patients, with many of them having been "socially prescribed" the sessions.

One patient, Neil was told to come to help him lose weight.

Digging out a patch of hard soil with a hoe, he said: "If I'm at home bored, I think of food all the time and when I come here, I'm happy being here and working hard. And I'm burning calories."

His sister Marie is also a regular at the Willow Wellies group.

"It's just socialising, it's quiet and a sense of doing something useful and they're here to help you if you have any other problems," she said.

Marie and her brother go to the sessions for exercise and socialising

There are now 90 social prescribers working in GP practices in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

They use local services, groups and activities to help people avoid medicine for conditions like diabetes, anxiety, stress or obesity.

Amelia Jackson is a social prescriber working in Eastleigh.

She said they had databases of social groups and discounted gym and swim memberships to help people with all sorts of conditions and limitations.

"It could be Tai-Chi, knitting, painting or a walking group," she said.

"Whatever suits the individual we will find and the social prescriber often goes along for the first session to help them get through the door and settle in."

The garden behind Forton medical centre in Gosport was created on a patch of wasteland

It can be hard to quantify the benefit the groups have, but primary care lead Ingrida Lelyte-Merrell said she had seen improvements in patients.

She said these included people who had reversed their type two diabetes, and others who had stopped needing statins, taken to reduce cholesterol.

"There is almost always something that can be done, before people become reliant on medicine," she said.

"And tackling stress and loneliness can stop conditions developing."