Earlier during her visit to the London Borough of Lambeth, the duchess added the finishing touches to a library mural in a primary school in an area of the capital where the community is combating gang problems.
With a brush in her hand, she added paint to an artwork based on CS Lewis’s Narnia books during her visit to St John’s Angell Town C of E Primary School in Brixton, south London.
The duchess then met the organisers and beneficiaries of the food co-op at the nearby Stockwell Community Centre, and told them: “I would like to congratulate all of you for what you’re doing here, it really is a question of seeing is believing.
“And if everybody could see what’s happening, what you’re doing here, they would believe it and put it into practice elsewhere.”
The Lambeth GP Food Co-op started in 2013 and is a community-led organisation of patients, doctors, nurses and Lambeth residents growing food together.
It sees three GP surgeries refer willing patients to the allotment sites, and the gardeners then sell their produce locally to NHS staff.
Camilla visited a site used by the Grantham practice and chatted to the green-fingered patients who spoke about their enjoyment of being outdoors.
The work of the Lambeth doctors and their patients chimes with the social prescribing movement, where doctors encourage people to join art classes, reading clubs or visit galleries as a way to improve their health and wellbeing.
PA
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said last autumn that doctors should consider prescribing fewer pills and more visits to the library or trips to the concert hall, and he announced plans for the creation of a new academy for social prescribing.
Dr Michael Dixon, national clinical champion for social prescribing at NHS England, told Camilla and the Lambeth GP Food Co-op members: “What we’re seeing today, I believe is the future – it’s the very best of the NHS and the very best of Britain.
“We all know food is by far the most important factor in both health and illness, but what you’re doing here is more than just food, it’s about social environment, it’s about exercise, it’s about green activities – and that’s what makes it so special because what you’re doing is connecting general practice to the community.”
The duchess began her visit to Lambeth by meeting community groups at St John’s Angell Town Church, which has a close association with the primary school of the same name Camilla toured later in the day.
She met elderly parishioners and organisations working to promote community cohesion, and was joined by the Bishop of Southwark, Christopher Chessun, whose diocese encompasses the church.
PA
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said last autumn that doctors should consider prescribing fewer pills and more visits to the library or trips to the concert hall, and he announced plans for the creation of a new academy for social prescribing.
Dr Michael Dixon, national clinical champion for social prescribing at NHS England, told Camilla and the Lambeth GP Food Co-op members: “What we’re seeing today, I believe is the future – it’s the very best of the NHS and the very best of Britain.
“We all know food is by far the most important factor in both health and illness, but what you’re doing here is more than just food, it’s about social environment, it’s about exercise, it’s about green activities – and that’s what makes it so special because what you’re doing is connecting general practice to the community.”
The duchess began her visit to Lambeth by meeting community groups at St John’s Angell Town Church, which has a close association with the primary school of the same name Camilla toured later in the day.
She met elderly parishioners and organisations working to promote community cohesion, and was joined by the Bishop of Southwark, Christopher Chessun, whose diocese encompasses the church.
PA
