Care Merseyside, the award winning social prescribing charity, has launched a new initiative to help the most vulnerable during the coronavirus pandemic.
Care Merseyside is a GP led and founded social prescribing charity founded by Knowsley GP Dr. Faisal Maassarani in 2009.
This month, Care Merseyside have set up a ‘New Intervention’ to allow them to adapt to the current crisis and allow them to co-ordinate a community led/volunteer led approach to supporting the most vulnerable.
The intervention is a simple two-pronged approach called ‘Phone a Friend – You’ll Never walk Alone’.
The idea is to ask people to call those most vulnerable on a daily basis for a chat, catch up and help with any needs like dropping shopping off etc. The volunteering in itself is good for health and well-being and will give purpose and focus to a community in fear and uncertainty.
Care Merseyside have an advanced digital infrastructure, using a software platform called Elemental. This allows GP’s to refer patients direct from their NHS systems and since COVID19, Care Merseyside have set up a tool on their website allowing the wider population to self-refer.
GP’s from across Knowsley can send text messages to their patients with a link to the new service and the team have already been dealing with referrals from the community. Support has been needed in a number of ways due to self-isolation and has also included requests for help from highly vulnerable individuals with cancer under-going chemotherapy.
The Care Merseyside team have also been working in partnership with The Big Help Project and Knowsley Council’s Crisis Support Team, helping support a joined-up approach to dealing with the unprecedented needs in our community at this time.
To find out more about Care Merseyside, visit their website at:
https://www.caremerseyside.org.uk/