Professor Kamila Hawthorne to chair National Academy for Social Prescribing

The National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP) has appointed Professor Kamila Hawthorne as its new chair of trustees.

Professor Hawthorne is also chair of the RCGP and on the trustee board of the King’s Fund. She was also awarded an MBA in 2017 for services to general practice.

She takes over from Professor Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard, who left the role in October 2024 after being appointed national chief medical officer at Health New Zealand.

The NASP was registered as a charity in 2019 and aims to raise awareness of social prescribing approaches to healthcare leaders and the wider public, as well as supporting organisations with guidance on developing and implementing social prescribing.

Professor Hawthorne said: ‘I’m so delighted to be offered this role. As a longstanding GP, I am very well aware of the ways in which social aspects of life can affect health. Social prescribing is a way of connecting people who need something more than medicines to organisations and groups that can help them – often much better than a doctor’s prescription!

‘With a new government promising radical changes in the way we run our NHS, social prescribing has a real opportunity to offer something more (and different) to people, and I’m looking forward to working with NASP to realise that potential.’

Jonathan Badyal, acting chair of NASP, said: ‘We are delighted that Kamila has accepted the role of Chair of NASP, following a robust recruitment process. As one of the country’s leading GPs, she is the perfect person to lead our work at this critical time for the NHS.

‘There is now strong evidence that social prescribing benefits individuals, communities and the wider health system, and that it can help to tackle health inequalities. Kamila will play a crucial role in championing social prescribing in the health system and beyond.’

Social prescribing link workers are currently the third largest staffing group employed through ARRS, with 2,777 reported as working in PCNs in December, behind pharmacists and care coordinators.