Providing welfare advice in general practice: referrals, issues and outcomes

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Social Determinants of Health
• Primary Care Services

Background:

• General practices in the UK are increasingly integrating welfare advice services to address patients' social and economic needs.
• This integration aims to tackle the broader influences on health beyond clinical care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the outcomes of a welfare advice service embedded within 30 general practices in inner-city Bradford.
• To assess patient demographics, referral sources, advice issues, and financial benefits generated.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective study was conducted on patients referred to the welfare advice service over 24 months.
• Data collected included patient demographics, referral sources, types of advice sought, and financial outcomes from benefit claims.

Main Results:

• The service assisted 2484 patients with over 4000 welfare advice issues.
• General practitioners were the primary referral source (28%), with disability-related benefits being the most common advice category.
• The service secured £2,389,255 in welfare benefit claims, with approximately 25% of patients experiencing financial gain.

Conclusions:

• Embedding welfare advice services within general practices is an effective strategy for primary care organizations.
• This approach successfully addresses the social, economic, and environmental factors impacting population health.
• The service demonstrated a significant positive financial impact for a notable proportion of patients.