At Alexandra Rose, we believe access to healthy food is one of the most powerful tools for tackling health inequalities.
Over the past two years, a new strand of our work has begun to demonstrate how transformational food-based interventions can be when councils, community organisations and the third sector work together. Now entering its third year, our partnership with Tower Hamlets Council and the community charity Bromley by Bow Centre is delivering a pioneering ‘Fruit & Veg on Prescription’ project, funded by the council’s public health service and match funding from Alexandra Rose.
Tower Hamlets is one of the most deprived boroughs in the country, with 40 per cent of residents living in poverty. For families under financial strain, healthy food is often unaffordable.
Recognising the association between food poverty and poor health, the council invested in Fruit & Veg on Prescription to make healthier eating possible by ensuring fresh produce is affordable and accessible.
Through the scheme, GPs refer patients to social prescribing link workers, who prescribe weekly Rose Vouchers. These can be used to purchase fruit and vegetables at local markets. Patients also access social-prescribing sessions and group workshops on nutrition and health. This combination empowers people to make lasting lifestyle changes.
Outcomes indicate a positive impact. The proportion of participants who were reducing meals regularly (a key indicator of food insecurity) fell from 63 to 21 per cent; 78 per cent were now eating their ‘five a day’, up from 32 per cent; 54 per cent reported better mental health; and self-reported GP visits were down 15 per cent.
Tower Hamlets Council’s leadership has been key to this partnership, demonstrating how a preventative public health approach and local collaboration can help tackle food poverty.
We hope other local authorities will see Fruit & Veg on Prescription as a replicable model that reduces health inequalities, strengthens communities and eases pressure on the NHS.
- Find out more about the Alexandra Rose Charity.