Front Door Service
Age UK Sunderland’s Social Prescribing Service
Age UK Sunderland (AUKS) is supporting older people via social prescribing with its Front Door Service (FDS). The service provides low-level tailored support to enable older people to stay independent for longer in their local community.
The FDS offers a single point of contact, social prescribing support and extends access to information, early interventions and flexible low-level community-based support to adults who do not require intensive or specialised support interventions from statutory services.
AUKS’s FDS will triage calls to ensure people receive the right level of support at the right time, and that they are directed to the right service. It is anticipated most service users will be people aged 50 years and over.
The service will operate a referral system for adults who:
- Are residents within the city of Sunderland
- Have no formal health or social care package of support from statutory services or those who would not qualify for local authority social care
- Require low level social and signposting support and practical information
- Are caring for family, friends and neighbours.
The service will not work with people who:
- Have complex health and social care needs, including those with high level support needs in mental health and Learning Disabilities whose needs would be better met by other agencies
- Require high intensity or complex care interventions. These referrals will be passed to social work and community health teams for professional assessment.
If you are a health or social care professional who has identified that a person needs some additional (low level) community support – whether it is information about social groups that can alleviate loneliness or advice about self-care – you can pass their details to us by filling in this simple form and we will contact the person and start to connect them with the right help, support and practical information.
Please read the About FDS section of this site to find out more about who we will refer to and how the service will work…