Social Prescriber

Job description

Job responsibilities

The following are the core responsibilities of the SSPLW. There may be, on occasion, a requirement to carry out other tasks; this will be dependent on factors such as workload and staffing levels.

Referrals

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a. Take referrals from a wide range of agencies; be proactive in developing strong links with all local agencies to encourage referrals, provide updates and offer training where required.

b. Build relationships with key staff in GP practices within the local PCN, attending relevant meetings, becoming part of the wider network team, giving information and feedback on social prescribing.

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

d. Be proactive in encouraging self-referrals and connecting with all local communities, particularly those communities that statutory agencies may find hard to reach.

e. Manage and prioritise your own workload.

Provide personalized support.

f. Meet people on a one-to-one basis, making home visits where appropriate within applicable policies and procedures. Give people time to tell their stories and focus on what matters to me. Build trust with the person, providing non-judgmental support, respecting diversity and lifestyle choices. Work from a strength-based approach focusing on a persons assets.

g. Be a friendly source of information about wellbeing and prevention approaches.

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

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

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

k. Work with individuals to co-produce a simple personalized support plan based on the persons priorities, interests, values and motivations including what they can expect from the groups, activities and services they are being connected to and what the person can do for themselves to improve their health and wellbeing.

l. Where appropriate, physically introduce people to community groups, activities, and statutory services, ensuring they are comfortable. Follow up to ensure they are happy, able to engage, included and receiving good support.

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

Support community groups and VCSE organizations to receive referrals.

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n. Forge strong links with local VCSE organizations, community and neighborhood level groups, utilizing their networks and building on whats already available to create a map of menu of community groups and assets. Use these opportunities to promote micro-commissioning or small grants if available.

o. Develop supportive relationships with local VCSE organizations, community groups and statutory services, to make timely, appropriate and supported referrals for the person being introduced.

p. Ensure that local community groups and VCSE organizations being referred to have basic procedures in place for ensuring that vulnerable individuals are safe and, where there are safeguarding concerns, work with all partners to deal appropriately with issues. Where such policies and procedures are not in place, support groups to work towards this standard before referrals are made to them.

q. Check that community groups and VCSE organizations meet in insured premises and that health and safety requirements are in place. Where such policies and procedures are not in place, support groups to work towards this standard before referrals are made to them.

r. Support local groups to act in accordance with information governance policies and procedures, ensuring compliance with the Data Protection Act 2018

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

s. Work with commissioners and local partners to identify unmet needs within the community and gaps in community provision.

t. Support local partners and commissioners to develop new groups and services where needed, through small grants for community groups, micro-commissioning and development support.

u. Encourage people who have been connected to community support through social prescribing to volunteer and give their time freely to others, in order to build their skills and confidence, and strengthen community resilience.

v. Develop a team of volunteers within your service to provide buddying support for people, starting new groups and finding creative community solutions to local issues.

w. Encourage people, their families and careers to provide peer support and to do things together, such as setting up new community groups or volunteering.

x. Provide a regular confidence survey to community groups receiving referrals, to ensure that they are strong, sustained and have the support they need to be part of social prescribing.

Data capture

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y. Work sensitively with people, their families, and carers to capture key information, enabling tracking of the impact of social prescribing on their health and wellbeing.

z. Encourage people, their families, and carers to provide feedback and to share their stories about the impact of social prescribing on their lives.

aa. Support referral agencies to provide appropriate information about the person they are referring. Use the case management system to track the persons progress. Provide appropriate feedback to referral agencies about the people they referred.

bb. Work closely with GP practices within the PCN and Practitioner Health to ensure that social prescribing referral codes are inputted to EMIS and that the persons use of the NHS can be tracked, adhering to data protection legislation and data sharing agreements with the Integrated Care Board (ICB).

Training and development

a. Undertake all mandatory training and induction programmes. Be involved in actively seeking training that would benefit the role and remain in communication with line manager regarding areas of interest for personal development and training opportunities.

b. Attend a formal appraisal with their manager at least every 12 months. Once a performance/training objective has been set, progress will be reviewed on a regular basis so that new objectives can be agreed.

Safeguarding

a. Identify and escalate Safeguarding concerns as appropriate to both Adult Social Service sand HARP line management.

b. Report all incidents relating to work to line management regarding patient or staff safety or anything that classes as a significant event.

Manage sickness and holiday absence in line with your patient calendar and referral stream. Keep practices informed of any absence as well as HARP line management with as much advance notice as possible for the smooth running of the service.

SECONDARY RESPONSIBILITES

In addition to the primary responsibilities, the SSPLW may be requested to:

a. Promote social prescribing, its role in self-management, and the wider determinants of health across all stakeholders and partners

b. Attend meetings or events on behalf of HARP and the Social Prescribing service

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c. Use evidence and data to contribute to service improvement

d. Participate in audits as directed by the audit lead

COMMUNICATION

The post-holder should recognise the importance of excellent and effective communication skills, with sensitively to different cultures, beliefs and communication needs are essential, making sure every contact counts. The post-holder should strive to:

a. Communicate effectively with other service/team members in a timely manner.

b. Communicate effectively with patients and carers in a timely manner, telephone call to patient within the first 7-14 days of referral being received.

c. Recognise peoples needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly in a timely manner, this can be via text, email or telephone calls. Often patients require an interpreter, ensuring if the appointment is face to face an interpreter has been requested, or offering telephone representation.

Report patients who behave in an inappropriate manner to the practice manager or assistant Manager.

CONFIDENTIALITY

In the course of your employment you will have access to confidential information relating to Hurley Group business. You are required to exercise due consideration in the way you use such information and should not act in any way which might be prejudicial to the Hurley Group interests.

Information for extra consideration includes access to the general business of the practice and any information regarding individuals.

Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers, or the business of Hurley Group may only be divulged to authorised persons in accordance with the practice policies and procedures relating to confidentiality and the protection of personal and sensitive data,

If you are in any doubt regarding the use of information in the pursuit of your duties you should seek advice from your line manager before communicating any information to any third party

DATA PROTECTION

Hurley Group is registered under the Data Protection Act (DPA) 1984. You must not at any time use the personal data held by Hurley Group for any purpose not described in the registry entry or disclose to a third party

It is essential that a strict code of confidentiality is adhered to all times

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All dealing within Hurley Group remain strictly confidential and the post holder would be expected to maintain confidentiality at all times during employment and also after employment has ended with the Hurley Group

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Educated to GCSE or equivalent experience gained through employment, with evidence of effective numeracy, literacy and word processing skills
• Training relevant to social prescribing, such as mental health first aid or counselling qualifications
• Evidence of a commitment to continuing professional development
• Social prescribing qualification

Desirable

• Degree level study

Experience

Essential

• Experience as a social prescriber
• Experience of signposting to and navigating complex service users' needs
• Experience of working in a demanding environment with competing priorities
• Experience of handling confidential information and an up-to-date knowledge of data protection legislation
• Experience of team working and versatility to take on a variety of tasks.
• Experience of managing your own workload and independently manage your time
• Experience in communicating with others, including via phone, email and face to face and experience of working with patients directly in patient facing roles
• Experience of working with service users, and excellent customer service skills
• Experience and understanding of Safeguarding; legislation, policies, and escalation

Desirable

• Experience in healthcare (specifically General Practice)
• Experience working with GP clinical systems
• Experience in supporting and developing others
• Experience of working within a budget
• Experience of support patients with long term needs over an extended time frame

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Employer details

Employer name

Hurley Group

Address

Lludwig Guttman Centre

40 Liberty Bridge Road

London

E20 1AS

Employer's website

http://hurleygroup.co.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)