A new independent academy for social prescribing is being set up. It will receive £5m in government funding and will be led by professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, the outgoing chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners.

Social prescribing involves helping patients to improve their health, wellbeing and social welfare by connecting them to community services. This can include activities such as art and singing classes.

The National Academy for Social Prescribing will work to:

• Standardise the quality and range of social prescribing available to patients across the country
• Increase awareness of the benefits of social prescribing by building and promoting the evidence base
• Develop and share best practice, as well as looking at new models and sources for funding
• Bring together all partners from health, housing and local government with arts, culture and sporting organisations to maximise the role of social prescribing
• Focus on developing training and accreditation across sectors.

The academy is being developed in partnership with Sport England, Arts Council England and a range of voluntary sector partners.

Currently 60 per cent of clinical commissioning groups use social prescribing for patients with anxiety, mental health problems and dementia.

In some parts of the country, patients with long-term conditions who have had access to social prescribing link workers have said they are less isolated, attended 47 per cent fewer hospital appointments and made 38 per cent fewer visits to A&E.

The NHS Long Term Plan includes plans to recruit over 1,000 social prescribing link workers by 2020 to 2021, with the aim of 900,000 people being referred to social prescribing schemes by then.