Helen Salisbury: Social prescribing and the No 17 bus

The link between social isolation and poor health has been widely studied,1 and intuitively it rings true. If you have only yourself to feed, is there really any incentive to cook a healthy meal? Where’s the motivation to go for a walk if you have no one to visit? In recognition of the fact that the main health problem for many elderly people may be loneliness rather than a statin deficiency, social prescribing is now hugely popular at all levels of the NHS. We are told that, instead of prescribing yet another pill of dubious marginal benefit, we should …