Case Study: Suffolk County Council achieves a rapid, responsive social prescribing service during COVID-19 with Simply Connect Solutions

Setting Up a Social Prescribing Service During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Suffolk County Council needed to set up a social prescribing service as part of the Connected Communities project to tackle rural isolation and loneliness among older people, but the planned launch on 23 March 2020 coincided with the UK COVID-19 lockdown. To get the service running quickly and work with local VCSE partners such as Suffolk Family Carers, the Council turned to Simply Connect Solutions and their proven social prescribing system, which could be replicated and adapted for local needs.

Simply Connect Solutions adapted its existing platform to create a single central hub and built‑in assessment and triage process, liaising with council officers and Suffolk Family Carers to route calls and referrals into the right local teams and support services. The solution was deployed in a short space of time during the pandemic, consolidated multiple access points into one single point of access across district and borough councils, maintained service continuity under lockdown, and delivered a more responsive, widely adopted referral pathway for staff and clients.

Suffolk County Council

Colin Baldwin

Localities Manager