The debt advice service helping to reduce GP visits

GP surgeries in south London are giving financial advice to help patients manage debt and handle benefits claims – and the results are striking.

In the 34 practices running the Back on Track scheme in Lambeth and Southwark, one in three patients visited their GP less often after receiving advice, and more than 1,100 people have secured benefits, cleared debts or seen reduced stress levels.

One of the people who have benefited from the project is 62-year-old Ife, from Stockwell.

She has chronic pain from arthritis and had fallen into energy debt after being forced to give up her job due to mobility issues, while awaiting knee replacement surgery.

Her Universal Credit (UC) claim was turned down, despite her limited ability to stand up for long or get around, and financial worries left her very down.

But when Ife found out about the programme through her local GP surgery, a financial support link worker helped her to appeal successfully against the UC decision, and to secure disability benefits. Ife was also helped with her energy and water debts through an affordable payment plan.

She said: “When the doctors’ surgery told me about Back on Track it was such a relief. The complex PIP (Personal Independence Payment) and UC claims forms were very stressful – I really wouldn’t have managed financially without my link worker’s support.

“I’m so happy now, I referred a couple of friends in similar situations. I still see my GP occasionally, but hardly anything compared to before.”

The Financial Shield, led by a foundation called Impact on Urban Health, is behind this project, which aims to free up time for GPs and demonstrate how tackling patients’ financial stress can improve their health.

Impact on Urban Health said that more than half of the participants had reported improvements in their health after receiving tailored support, such as help to secure benefits, obtain debt write-offs or negotiate with creditors.

Vikesh Sharma, a south London GP who took part in the scheme, said: “Over six months, a woman in her 40s saw us several times for heart palpitations. She wasn’t sleeping, had lost confidence in physical activity and was struggling to find work.

“We ran multiple blood and cardiac tests as she sought reassurance. Over time it became clear her symptoms were linked to severe stress, driven by rent worries and debt. Being able to name this as a possible cause and immediately offer support transformed the consultation.

“Without that offer [of specialist help], how could I have centred financial health in her care, or expected her to accept it as the root issue with no solution?

“Six months later she returned once, reflecting on how stress had affected her health and [how she was] taking steps to improve it.”

Michael Parsons, head of the Financial Foundations Programme at Impact on Urban Health, told BBC London: “What we see over and over again is that people’s health is determined by their finances and when they get into money trouble, it makes their health worse.

“People in poor health are more likely to get into financial trouble. It becomes a cycle and you need to find ways of trying to break the cycle by helping people with their money.

“We see most people that go through the scheme say their health is better, they feel better in their mental and physical health.

“We also see a reduction in the number of times people need to go to the GP surgery, which shows that the financial situation is linked.

“The Financial Shield is about freeing up GPs to focus on underlying conditions. By embedding financial support in surgeries, people can deal with the root causes of stress, while doctors focus on treatment. This is good for GPs, cost effective, and preventative.”

The NHS said in a statement: “Decisions on that service would be taken locally in each system, and information on the expected impact would have been looked at locally in Lambeth and Southwark. On the question of being rolled out wider, it would be for each integrated care board to comment on.”

The government’s 10 Year Health Plan aims to integrate debt support into new neighbourhood health services.

The Financial Shield model builds on the London Health Board’s aim to make welfare advice available to all Londoners who need it, Impact on Urban Health said.