OHKF Media Roundtable on Social Prescribing Research
OHKF Media Roundtable on Social Prescribing Research
Our Hong Kong Foundation and Make a Difference Institute (MaD) recently held a media roundtable to present latest research titled "Bridging Healthcare and Community for Holistic Health: The Development of Social Prescribing in Hong Kong". Drawing on evidence from MaD’s Social Prescribing Lab 2.0 and international examples, the roundtable explores the potential of promoting social prescribing in Hong Kong and puts forward concrete recommendations to address holistic health needs and workforce challenges under primary healthcare reform.
Through Link Workers, social prescribing connects residents in need with non-clinical community resources and services, thereby addressing the Social Determinants of Health. Link Workers adopt a holistic health perspective to identify diverse needs of service users, co-develop personalised care plans with them, and facilitate their access to suitable community resources, such as physical activities, gardening, psychosocial programmes, and more.
OHKF and MaD jointly presented the preliminary findings and policy recommendations at the event. Ryan Ip, Vice President of OHKF and Executive Director of Public Policy Institute, Dicky Chow, Assistant Research Director, Dorothy Yeung, Research Manager, and Esther Loh, Researcher shared the study’s preliminary findings, while Ada Wong, Chair and Founder of Make a Difference Institute, shared insights on the practical implementation of Link Workers in Hong Kong. Link workers Deborah Ng, Ben Wong and Pun Kit Shan shared their first-hand experiences on how they helped service users regain a healthy life. Hermion Au, Project Director of Make a Difference Institute, was also present as an invited guest.
To foster the sustainable development of social prescribing in Hong Kong, the roundtable proposes developing a local social prescribing framework that includes: 1) developing a professionally recognised workforce system for Link Workers, with a shared competency framework, training requirements and a progressive accreditation pathway, and 2) establishing a systematic social impact assessment framework, using universal core indicators to assess outcomes and impacts for service users, services and the wider system, while allowing flexible indicators for different service-user groups.
Through this roundtable, OHKF and MaD aims to consolidate practical experience of social prescribing in Hong Kong and clarify the common foundations required for service development and evaluation. This will help strengthen collaboration across healthcare, social care and community services, enabling social prescribing to respond more effectively to people’s needs.
Our Hong Kong Foundation and Make a Difference Institute (MaD) recently held a media roundtable to present latest research titled "Bridging Healthcare and Community for Holistic Health: The Development of Social Prescribing in Hong Kong". Drawing on evidence from MaD’s Social Prescribing Lab 2.0 and international examples, the roundtable explores the potential of promoting social prescribing in Hong Kong and puts forward concrete recommendations to address holistic health needs and workforce challenges under primary healthcare reform.
Through Link Workers, social prescribing connects residents in need with non-clinical community resources and services, thereby addressing the Social Determinants of Health. Link Workers adopt a holistic health perspective to identify diverse needs of service users, co-develop personalised care plans with them, and facilitate their access to suitable community resources, such as physical activities, gardening, psychosocial programmes, and more.
OHKF and MaD jointly presented the preliminary findings and policy recommendations at the event. Ryan Ip, Vice President of OHKF and Executive Director of Public Policy Institute, Dicky Chow, Assistant Research Director, Dorothy Yeung, Research Manager, and Esther Loh, Researcher shared the study’s preliminary findings, while Ada Wong, Chair and Founder of Make a Difference Institute, shared insights on the practical implementation of Link Workers in Hong Kong. Link workers Deborah Ng, Ben Wong and Pun Kit Shan shared their first-hand experiences on how they helped service users regain a healthy life. Hermion Au, Project Director of Make a Difference Institute, was also present as an invited guest.
To foster the sustainable development of social prescribing in Hong Kong, the roundtable proposes developing a local social prescribing framework that includes: 1) developing a professionally recognised workforce system for Link Workers, with a shared competency framework, training requirements and a progressive accreditation pathway, and 2) establishing a systematic social impact assessment framework, using universal core indicators to assess outcomes and impacts for service users, services and the wider system, while allowing flexible indicators for different service-user groups.
Through this roundtable, OHKF and MaD aims to consolidate practical experience of social prescribing in Hong Kong and clarify the common foundations required for service development and evaluation. This will help strengthen collaboration across healthcare, social care and community services, enabling social prescribing to respond more effectively to people’s needs.
