From 19 to 21 March 2025, WONCA Europe participated in the SP-EU Project 1st General Assembly meeting which took place at the Auditorium at the Charité Cross Over, University of Medicine in Berlin, Germany, and was attended by Dr. Ferdinando Petrazzuoli member of the WONCA Europe (WE) Executive Board.
The SP-EU Project is aimed at promoting and improving access to health and care services for people in vulnerable situations in Europe.
The project team leaders include three WONCA Europe members, Dr. Aaron Poppleton, Professor Joyce Kenkre and Dr. Ferdinando Petrazzuoli along with the leaders of the other partners of this project:
- CHARITE - UNIVERSITAETSMEDIZIN BERLIN (Charité), Berlin, Germany, the Coordinator;
- GESUNDHEIT OSTERREICH GMBH (GÖG), Vienna, Austria;
- CONCENTRIS RESEARCH MANAGEMENT GMBH (Concentris), Berlin, Germany;
- UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH (UOP) Plymouth, United Kingdom;
- UNIWERSYTET MEDYCZNY IM PIASTOW SLASKICH WE WROCLAWIU (WMU), Wroclaw, Poland;
- FUNDACIO INSTITUT UNIVERSITARI PERA LA RECERCA A L’ATENCIO PRIMARIA DE SALUT JORDI GOL I GURINA (IDIAP JGol), Barcelona, Spain;
- UNIVERSIDADE NOVA DE LISBOA (UNL), Lisbon, Portugal ;
- AALBORG UNIVERSITET (AAU), Aalborg, Denmark;
- BERGISCHE UNIVERSITAET WUPPERTAL (BUW), Wuppertal, Germany;
- THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD (UOXF), Oxford, United Kingdom;
- UNIVERSITAETSKLINIKUM HAMBURG-EPPENDORF (UKE), Hamburg, Germany;
- Active Group GmbH (ACT), Tuebingen, Germany;
- Dom zdravlja Zagreb Zapad (DZZZ), Zagreb, Croatia;
- UNIVERSITAETSKLINIKUM FREIBURG (UKF), Freiburg, Germany;
- EUROHEALTHNET ASBL (EuroHealthNet),Bruxelles, Belgium;
- UNIVERSITEIT GENT – GHENT UNIVERSITY (UGent), Gent, Belgium;
- National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP) London, United Kingdom;
- STICHTING WONCA EUROPE (WONCA Europe), Ljubljana, Slovenia;
- Dansk Selskab for Indvandrersundhed (DSIH), Charlottenlund, Denmark;
- Schwulenberatung Berlin gGmbH (SB), Berlin- Charlottenburg, Germany,
(https://social-prescribing.eu/about-sp-eu/index.html ).
WONCA Europe is a partner in this project and benefits from the collaboration of the WONCA Europe Special Interest Group on Social Prescribing and Community Orientation.
In the project, the consortium will focus on three exemplary groups of persons in vulnerable situations:
- LGBTIQ persons,
- refugees and first general immigrants and
- older adults living alone
Social Prescribing (SP) is an innovative solution to bridging the gap between primary health care and non-clinical supports and services within the community. SP enables general practitioners who identify health-related social problems to refer patients to a so-called link worker. The link worker provides personalized support and helps these patients to access community resources by addressing any barriers that may exist. SP is an approach to integrate health and social care and strengthen community orientation. SP thereby mitigates the effects of social determinants of health on health outcomes. However, SP has not been tailored to the needs of people in vulnerable situations yet and the effectiveness of SP to improve their access to health and care services remains unknown.
The overall objective of SP-EU is to assess the potential of SP to promote and improve access to health and care services for people in vulnerable situations, focusing on three primary target groups: LGBTIQ persons, refugees and first-generation immigrants and older adults living alone. SP-EU follows a mixed-methods approach: SP adaptations will be co-created with the target groups, to adapt them to their specific needs and social contexts. A pragmatic randomized controlled trial will assess the effectiveness of the adapted SP to improve access by randomizing 1,776 patients in eight EU countries to receive SP or care as usual.
A qualitative analysis in five European countries will explore enabling and limiting factors to the implementation of SP from different stakeholders’ perspectives. Additionally, we will communicate and disseminate results and translate them into policy action. SP-EU will enable health care systems to implement SP as a scalable, safe, cost-effective and people-centred solution to provide equal access to sustainable care. Thus, SP-EU will enable the transformation of European health care systems to equitable, community-based, people-centred and integrated health care.
SP-EU will contribute to the Key Strategic Orientation D in Horizon Europe’s Strategic Plan 2021-2024, creating a more resilient, inclusive and democratic European society by addressing inequalities and providing high-quality health and social care. Thus, SP-EU contributes to the impact area of “good health and high-quality accessible healthcare” in this Key Strategic Orientation. Social Prescribing strengthens the community orientation and health-promoting aspects of health care, mitigating the effects of social determinants of health and reducing the need for treatment, thereby improving the sustainability of health services. SP-EU will contribute to the expected impact No. 4, ensuring access to innovative, sustainable and high-quality health care of cluster health.