Ways to wellness

Ways to Wellness is a Newcastle-based charity that works with partners across the public, private, and voluntary sectors. We test and develop new healthcare interventions and ways of working to help people take control of their health. Our work reduces health inequalities and evidences cost savings for the NHS.

Some of our current projects in the North East and North Cumbria (NENC) Integrated Care Board (ICB) area are:

SPACE Pilot – A partnership with Great North Children’s Hospital. Social prescribing link workers are placed alongside clinicians. The project supports children with chronic neurological conditions and their families, using a whole-family approach to care.

PROSPeR – Part of the NHS NENC ‘Waiting Well’ programme, supporting patients waiting for surgery. It helps them prepare for a better recovery after the operation. This means there is less chance they will need to go back into hospital. In particular, this project is looking at reducing the use of pain medications. 

Social Prescribing for Persistent Physical Symptoms – This project is for people experiencing chronic pain or ongoing symptoms. It helps them create a personal action plan with support from a link worker. This may include:

• eating well
• moving more
• getting involved in local groups and activities
• developing positive relationships
• accessing special support services that can help with things like benefits and welfare rights

One of the most successful projects at Ways to Wellness has been about Maternal Mental Health. This work won the ‘Women’s Health Innovation’ award at the Bright Ideas in Health Awards 2024.

Ways to Wellness would love to hear from people or organisations that would like it to test their new healthcare ideas. Get in touch if you think you could help Ways to Wellness to improve services and make things better for patients.

Find out more: waystowellness.org.uk
Get in touch: info@waystowellness.org.uk