Plans to start on an in-house ‘social prescribing’ programme for Harrow have been delayed.

Harrow Council’s health and wellbeing board had intended to recommend a prototype, which would be delivered by the council and the local clinical commissioning group (CCG).

But Carole Furlong, director of public health at Harrow Council, explained that the details had not been finalised.

Social prescribing is linked to structured activities, such as running clubs or weekly conversation meetings, to improve patients’ mental health.

Currently there is no service in Harrow, though doctors can make referrals to support their patients’ needs.

And a specific service called Healthwise, which has been supported by a charitable grant, the council and Harrow CCG, will run until March.

Ms Furlong said: “We now want to get the interventions that we want to deliver, work out how much this will cost and how much we are willing to pay.”

She said social prescribing is particularly effective when taking people who have a “low level of need and stopping them reaching a high level”.

Harrow Council and Harrow CCG intend to share the responsibility for the programme.

Initially, projected costs for the programme stood at £103,000, which was to be split almost down the middle between the two organisations.

The proposed reassessment will be presented to the health and wellbeing board in either March or May.

There is enough funding in place for the current social prescribing programme until the end of March.

Ms Furlong could not confirm whether there would be a contingency plan should the new proposal not be available before May but explained that the situation has been discussed in her department.

And Javina Seghal, managing director of Harrow CCG, said that there is enough funding in place for any interim period.

Cllr Graham Henson, leader of Harrow Council, agreed that while it is important to get the situation resolved, it would be unwise to rush things.

He said: “There’s no point discussing it now as we don’t know the details of what we’ll be discussing – it’s simply not ready.”