ADOPTED: SPLENDID Social Prescribing for people to Live ENjoyably with Dementia/memory
problems In Daily life
Research lead: Professor George Christopher Fox, University of East Anglia
ARC Wessex team: Dr Euan Sadler, University of Southampton, Dr Katherine Bradbury, University of Southampton.
Partner organisations: NHS Norfolk and Waveney CCG, University of Hull, University of Nottingham, University of Exeter, King's College London, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Meaningful Measures Ltd.
Start: 01/05/2022
End: 30/04/2027
What is the problem?
Nearly one million people in the UK will be living with the affects of dementia by 2030 including poor well-being
and quality of life. Social prescribing is a prescription of activities for a person to use to link with others
and undertake something they might enjoy, this could be a walking or singing group, flower arranging class, visit to
a museum or putting them in touch with other people to help them feel better. People meet with staff called Link-
Workers, who have a conversation with them to help them think about what they enjoy and might help. The Link
Worker might then introduce them to a group or activity or support them to find information to make links. Family
members can be involved too. Research shows social prescribing has better effects than just taking medicine and
is happening more often. This study (called SPLENDID) aims to understand how we ensure social prescribing is
useful and helpful to people with dementia.
What we will do
SPLENDID researchers will talk with people with dementia, family carers and staff working in social prescribing to
understand what people want, what works well and what could be improved. We will use this to design, with
people with dementia, what looks like the best way for social prescribing with people with dementia. We will create some tools (online and face-to-face) to help workers and people with dementia talk and think together about what might help them. We will test it with a small group of people to see if it helps and look at what training Link- Workers need to offer the best support for people with dementia and their families. We then decide if this should be taken forward and tested in a larger study to see if it improves peoples’ well-being and is value for money.
Working with patients and carers
Our team met 8 people with dementia and 8 family carers to design this study. We have 2 co-researchers (Mr
Rook and Mrs Bingham) who are living with dementia. 150 people with dementia were surveyed to see what social
prescribing is currently being offered and found people were doing a range of outdoor and indoor activities, some
with family which they enjoyed and found helpful. People with dementia and carers will be on our Committees,
and several dementia charities support this work.
Dissemination
Our website will offer free resources put together with people with dementia and carers. Our findings will be
shared locally and nationally using links we have with universities, clinical experts, press, social media, workshops
with people who commission and provide.