Social Prescriber

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES Referrals Promote social prescribing as an approach across the PCN by attending relevant MDT meetings building relationships across the PCN.

Proactively develop strong links with local agencies to encourage appropriate referrals, providing referral agencies with regular updates about social prescribing, including training for their staff and how to access information to encourage appropriate referrals.

Seek regular feedback about the quality of service and impact of social prescribing on referral agencies.

Proactively encourage equitable participation in social prescribing through taking self-referrals and connecting with diverse local communities through a range of methods, particularly communities that statutory agencies may find hard to reach and where health inequalities are most prevalent.

Provide personalised support Meet people on a one-to-one basis, making home visits and visits to community organisation where appropriate and within organisations policies and procedures.

Use appropriate judgement to ascertain the number and length of sessions required, responding to the needs of the individual and their circumstances.

Give people time to tell their stories and focus on the question, what matters to me? Build trust and respect with the person, providing non-judgemental and non-discriminatory support, taking a strength-based approach that focuses on a persons assets.

Work with the person, their families and carers and consider how they can all be supported through social prescribing.

Help people identify the wider issues that impact on their health and wellbeing, such as debt, poor housing, being unemployed, loneliness and caring responsibilities.

Work with individuals to co-produce a simple personalised support plan to address the persons health and wellbeing needs based on the persons priorities, interests, values, cultural and religious/faith needs and motivations Provide information on what people can gain from the groups, activities and services they are being connected to Provide information on what the person can do for themselves to improve their health and wellbeing Physically introduce people to appropriate community groups and activities, peer support groups, or statutory services, ensuring they are comfortable, feel valued and respected.

Provide follow up support to the person to ensure they are happy, able to engage, feel included and that they are receiving good support.

Help people maintain or regain independence through living skills, adaptations, enablement approaches and simple safeguards.

Where people may be eligible for a personal health budget, help them to explore this option as a way of providing funded, personalised support to be independent, including helping people to gain skills for meaningful employment, where appropriate.

Seek advice and support from the GP supervisor and/or identified individual(s) to discuss safeguarding concerns and follow PCN safeguarding policies around reporting and/or escalating concerns Seek advice and support from the GP supervisor and/or identified individual(s) to discuss concerns outside the scope of the social prescribing link workers practice and make appropriate onward referrals Supporting the community offer Develop supportive relationships with local VCSE organisations, community groups and statutory services, to understand their offer and make timely, appropriate and supported referrals Create strong links with local agencies to utilise existing networks and build on existing provision Work collectively with all local partners to ensure community groups are accessible and sustainable Work with commissioners and local partners to identify and share information on unmet diverse needs within the community and gaps in community provision Support development of community groups and assets who promote diversity and inclusion Encourage people who have been connected to community support through social prescribing to volunteer or to start their own activities and groups Support existing local volunteering schemes to strengthen community resilience and explore potential to develop a team of volunteers to provide buddying support, peer support or to start new community-based groups or activities Data capture Support referral agencies to provide appropriate information about the person they are referring, including demographic data and data on wider determinants, for example, caring status.

Provide appropriate and timely feedback to referral agencies about the people they referred.

Work sensitively with people, their families and carers to capture key information to measure impact of social prescribing on their health and wellbeing, using validated tools determined locally such as the ONS4 wellbeing scale to assess need and measure outcomes.

Encourage people, their families and carers to provide feedback on their experience, for example, through patient satisfaction surveys, and to share their stories about the impact of soc

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