Liberal Democrat MP Caroline Voaden has joined calls for the Government to review social prescribing funding after a visit to a charity in South Devon.

Veterans Outdoors provides long-term, wraparound care for military veterans with mental health problems, covering the South West, the region with the highest concentration of veterans in the country.

With three referrals from GPs each week, Veterans Outdoors not only supports veterans but also helps alleviate pressure on the NHS. Chief Executive Jeremy Hibbard shared that, according to NHS senior executives, his charity saves the health service between £1–2 million annually. Despite this, Veterans Outdoors currently receives no comparable funding for these services.

While successive governments have dedicated funds to social prescribing, Hibbard claims that little of this money reaches the providers patients are referred to.

This, combined with the incoming rise in employer national insurance contributions, is stretching the finances of charities like Veterans Outdoors.

During her visit to its weekly session in Dartington, Caroline discussed these funding challenges and learned more about the charity's 'Project Artemis', which provides vital mental health support for women veterans.

Caroline Voaden, MP for South Devon, said: “Visiting inspiring charities like Veterans Outdoors only re-emphasises to me how illogical the national insurance rise is. Meeting this tax could threaten their existence and potentially force dozens of vulnerable veterans back into a broken care system that’s not equipped to support them."

Jeremy Hibbard, CEO of Veterans Outdoors, said: “We were delighted to welcome Caroline and show her an element of our unique programme of wraparound care in action. It was also a good opportunity to talk through the funding challenges a charity like Veterans Outdoors faces.

“At any one time, we are supporting more than 200 veterans, a significant proportion of them women. We receive many referrals from the NHS through its social prescribing programmes, yet we don't receive any commensurate funding. We're saving the NHS an estimated £1–2 million per year, so there's clearly an imbalance in the way social prescribing funds are allocated."