Social Prescribing Link Worker

Job summary

Social prescribing empowers people to take control of their health and wellbeing through referral or direct access to non-medical link workers who give time, focus on what matters to me and take a holistic approach, connecting people to community groups and statutory services for practical and emotional support.

Social prescribing can help to strengthen community and personal resilience, and reduces health inequalities by addressing the wider determinants of health, such as debt, poor housing and physical inactivity, by increasing peoples active involvement with their local communities. It works particularly well for people with long-term conditions (including support for mental health), for people who are lonely or isolated, or have complex social needs which affect their wellbeing.

Main duties of the job

Working under direct supervision of a GP Lead provide social prescribing that empowers people to take control of their health and wellbeing.

This role involves connecting people to community groups and statutory services for practical and emotional support.

You will also support existing groups to be accessible and sustainable and work collaboratively with all local partners.

Working with adult and child safeguarding clinical leads

You will also co-ordinate the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) meetings and Gold Standard Framework (GSF) palliative care meetings with the support and guidance of the clinical team

You will work as a key part of the Primary Care Network (PCN) DES, coordinating and linking patients with the rest of the medical and non-medical team, other members of the PCN ARRS team to strengthen community and personal resilience and reducing health and wellbeing inequalities by addressing the wider determinants of health, such as debt, poor housing and physical inactivity, by increasing peoples active involvement with their local communities.

Along with the wider team, you will be required to participate in the Extended Access DES. This might involve working in the evening, morning or weekend

Manage and prioritise your own caseload in accordance with the needs, priorities and any urgent support required by the referred individuals. Have a strong awareness and understanding of when it is appropriate or necessary to refer people back to other health professionals.

About us

We are a PCN (Primary Care Network) made up of 6 practices across Peterborough, providing care to our patients.

Practices working together to improve patient health and access include:

Nightingale Medical Centre

Ailsworth Medical Centre

Westwood Clinic

Botolph Bridge Medical Centre

Willow Tree Surgery

The Grange Medical Centre

This is a hybrid role, working within practices and remotely.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Referrals:

Build relationships with key staff within the PCN, attending relevant meetings, becoming part of the wider network team, giving information and feedback on social prescribing. Be proactive and work in partnership with all local agencies to raise awareness of social prescribing and how partnership working can reduce pressure on statutory services, improve health outcomes and enable a holistic approach to care. Provide teams within the Practice with regular updates about social prescribing, including training for their staff and how to access information to encourage appropriate referrals and seek regular feedback. Use judgement and experience in helping to determine the relevant urgency of or requests for information received from patients and other external organisations.

Provide personalised support:

Build trust and provide non-judgemental support, respecting diversity and lifestyle choices working from a strength-based approach focusing on a persons assets. Be a friendly source of information about wellbeing and prevention approaches. Help to identify wider issues that impact on health and wellbeing, such as debt, poor housing, unemployment,loneliness and caring responsibilities and help people to maintain or regain independence through living skills,adaptations, enablement approaches and simple safeguards. Where appropriate, physically introduce people to community groups, activities and statutory services. Whereeligible for a personal health budget, explore this option as a way of providing funded, personalised support.

Support community groups and VCSE organisations to receive referrals:

Forge strong links with local VCSE organisations and community groups, utilising their networks and building onwhats already available to create a map or menu of community groups and assets. Ensure that organisations have basic procedures in place for safeguarding, information governance and healthand safety. Where such policies and procedures are not in place, support groups to work towards this standard before referrals are made to them.

Work collectively with all local partners to ensure community groups are strong and sustainable:

Support local partners and commissioners to develop new groups and services where needed, through smallgrants for community groups, micro-commissioning and development support. Encourage those who have interacted with social prescribing to volunteer and provide buddying support, buildingtheir skills and confidence, and strengthening community resilience.

Data capture:

Work sensitively to capture key information on the impact of social prescribing on health and wellbeing to enablethe tracking and development of the service. Provide appropriate feedback to referral agencies about the people they referred. Encourage people, their families and carers to provide feedback and to share their stories about the impact ofsocial prescribing on their lives. The post holder is responsible for, in concert with others, maintaining the accuracy of the Practices Clinical System.

COMPETENCIES AND SKILLS

Professional development:

Adhere to organisational policies and procedures, including confidentiality, safeguarding, lone working,information governance, and health and safety. Work as part of the team to seek feedback, continually improve the service and contribute to business planning.

Collaborative working relationships:

Work as a team player and recognise the roles of other colleagues within the organisation and for the collectivebenefit of patients. Establishing and maintaining effective lines of communication with the GPs and Practice Manager, communicatingclearly and effectively with staff to aid the smooth running of the Practice. Recognise personal limitations and refer to more appropriate colleague(s) when necessary.

Leadership:

Demonstrate understanding of the Social Prescribing role in Governance and implement this appropriately. Understand and contribute to the practice vision, looking to improve quality, monitor progress and develop clear plans to achieve results set within the priorities of others.

Management:

Demonstrate understanding of the implications of national priorities for the team and/or service, and the ability to extend boundaries of service delivery within the team.

Education, training and development:

Act as a role model to members in the team and/or service and show understanding of the mentorship process. Demonstrate ability to conduct teaching and assessment effectively with supervision. Show self-development through continuous professional development activity, including formal education programmes and policies relevant to working areas of practice, keeping up to date with relevant clinical practice.

Equality and diversity:

Identify patterns of discrimination, take action to overcome this, and promote diversity and quality of opportunity, enabling others to promote equality and diversity in a non-discriminatory culture. Support people who need assistance in exercising their rights, including the surgery chaperoning policy. Accept the rights of individuals to choose their care providers, to participate in care and or refuse care. Assist patients from marginalised groups to access quality care. Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Experience of supporting people with their mental health, either paid or voluntary. Knowledge of IT systems, including ability to use Microsoft packages Word, Excel, Emails and the internet to create simple plans and reports.

Desirable

NVQ Level 3, Advanced level or equivalent qualifications or working towards. Training in motivational coaching and interviewing or equivalent experience. Experience of data collection and providing reports for monitoring and evaluating to assess the impact of services. Knowledge of the personalised care approach.

Other

Essential

Ability to listen, empathise with people and provide person-centred support in a non-judgemental way. Able to get along with people from all backgrounds and communities, respecting lifestyles and diversity. Commitment to reducing health inequalities and proactively working to reach people from all communities. Able to support people in a way that inspires trust and confidence, motivating others to reach their potential. Ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, with people, their families, carers, community groups, partner agencies and stakeholders. Ability to identify risk and assess/manage risk when working with individuals. Have a strong awareness and understanding of when it is appropriate or necessary to refer people back to other health professionals/agencies, when what the person requires is beyond the Social Prescriber remit when there is a mental health need requiring a qualified practitioner. Ability to maintain effective working relationships and to promote collaborative practice with all colleagues. Ability to use own initiative, discretion and sensitivity Ability to organise, plan and prioritise on own initiative, including when under pressure and meeting deadlines High level of written and oral communication skills Knowledge of and ability to work to policies and procedures, including confidentiality, safeguarding, lone working, information governance, and health and safety Willingness to work flexible hours when required to meet work demands.

Desirable

Experience of working with the Voluntary sector including with volunteers and small community groups. Experience of partnership/collaborative working and building relationships across a variety of organisations

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