Mental health is a huge cost to the NHS, to business and to the overall UK economy. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimated the UK economy loses £94 billion to mental health issues each year. Such a large expense creates an equally large market in avoiding those costs.
There is an increasing recognition that health is far more than merely being physically fit and well. Social, economic and environmental pressures can all contribute to the bigger picture of our wellbeing. One way to prevent these pressures having an impact on our health may be through social prescribing.
Patients use non-clinical services to treat issues which allows them to take more responsibility for their own health. Medical professionals may prescribe the treatment or the initiative might be suggested by work colleagues, friends or the individual themselves.
Social prescribing in the countryside
Greenery has long been linked to better mental health and recent research backs this up. Aarhus University showed a lack of green space in childhood caused up to a 55 per cent higher risk of developing a mental disorder. This was even after other factors had been taken into account such as family medical history and socio-economic status.
450 million suffer from mental illness in the world, an issue that is expected to worsen with urbanisation. With this in mind, UK landowners are well placed to provide services that help the NHS budget go further by providing holistic care in the countryside. This can be broken down into three levels:
- Everyday life
- Health promotion
- Green care
Each successive level provides more specialised and targeted treatment for increasingly defined and acute illnesses. This often means medical professionals become more involved at higher levels to provide more structured therapy.
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