If you are a freelancer or arts and cultural organisation it may be worth considering these top 10 things before offering social prescribing. Further resources like the Quality Assurance document about the scheme will help you assess whether you have the right things in place to successfully deliver social prescribing in your area.

1. Financials: do you have a robust funding model for your project or programme? Can the programme be sustained long term; consider the effect on your referred participants if the programme suddenly closed due to lack of funding.
2. Partnerships: think about who you can partner with locally to strengthen what you are offering.
3. Training: what training might you need to ensure your project or programme goes well?
4. Referrals: how might you secure referrals into your programme; think about how to connect with PCNs and GPs locally, for example.
5. Evaluation: what expectations do funders, or your link worker have around evaluation?
6. Insurance, DBS check, mental health first aid training: what practical paperwork must you have in place to protect not only your participants but also yourself?
7. Safeguarding: you must have a safeguarding policy in place; think about if a participant discloses something you are worried about – how might you flag this to a relevant medical professional?
8. Data protection, GDPR: what data are you collecting about your participants? Where is that stored? Who might need access to it?
9. Link worker relationship and expectations: your link worker might request reports on referrals or updates on how they are doing. Make sure you have the time to manage this paperwork.
10. The arts and cultural programme or project itself: how will you structure your project, will you need to bring in any specialist arts practitioners to support you in delivering the work on particular health issues or types of patients?

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