At the heart of osteopathic practice is our aim to promote an environment for health in those we care for. The concept of promoting health, as opposed to simply treating disease, has been gaining traction in the rest of healthcare and momentum is now building.

Public Health England recognises the growing importance of health promotion in a community setting, and the potential contribution osteopaths can make through social prescribing.

David suggests: “Sometimes called ‘community referral’, social prescribing relates to health care professionals providing and referring people to a range of local non-clinical services. Recognising that people’s health is determined by a range of social, physical, emotional and environmental factors, these schemes approach health improvement in a holistic way, helping people improve areas of their lives likely to contribute to their entire health and “wellbeing”.

The growing burden of chronic disease is putting increasing strain on UK healthcare forcing services to think differently. This has resulted in increased understanding of the importance of keeping people healthy.

Osteopaths are in a prime position to help with this growing trend towards optimising health in order to provide improved services to those in our community.

Best wishes, David