SPRING Social Prescribing Link Worker

Job description

Job responsibilities

Referrals

Be proactive in developing strong links with all local agencies to encourage referrals, recognising what they need to be confident in the service to make appropriate referrals.

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 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.

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

Provide personalised support

Meet people on a one-to-one basis, making home visits where appropriate within organisations policies and procedures. Give people time to tell their stories and focus on what matters to me.

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

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

Work with individuals to co-produce a simple personalised 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.

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.

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.

Support community groups and VCSE organisations to receive referrals

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

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

Ensure that local community groups and VCSE organisations 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.

Check that community groups and VCSE organisations 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.

Support local groups to act in accordance with information governance policies and procedures, ensuring compliance with GDPR.

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

Work with GPs, PCNs and wider Multi-Disciplinary teams as required.

Work with commissioners and local partners to identify unmet needs within the community and gaps in community provision and support development of new groups and services where needed, through small grants for community groups, micro-commissioning and development support.

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.

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.

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

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.

Person Specification

Skills and Knowledge

Essential

• Able to prioritise and manage own workload.
• Knowledge of IT systems, including ability to use word processing skills, emails and the internet.
• Ability to listen, empathise with people and provide person-centred support in a non-judgemental way.
• Able to support people in a way that inspires trust and confidence, motivating others to reach their potential.
• Ability to identify risk and assess/manage risk when working with individuals.
• Demonstrates personal accountability, emotional resilience and works well under pressure.
• High level of written and oral communication skills.

Desirable

• Understanding of the wider determinants of health, including social, economic and environmental factors and their impact on communities.
• Flexibility to work outside of core office hours.

Qualifications

Essential

• NVQ Level 3, Advanced level or equivalent qualifications or working towards.
• Demonstrable commitment to professional and personal development.

Desirable

• Training in motivational coaching and interviewing or equivalent experience.

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working directly in a community development context, adult health and social care, learning support or public health/health improvement (including unpaid work).
• Experience of supporting people, their families and carers in a related role (including unpaid work).
• Experience of working with the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise () sector (in a paid or unpaid capacity), including with volunteers and small community groups.

Desirable

• Experience of supporting people with their mental health, either in a paid, unpaid or informal capacity.
• Experience of data collection and providing monitoring information to assess the impact of services.
• Experience of partnership/collaborative working and of building relationships across a variety of organisations.

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

General Practice Alliance Ltd

Address

7-8 Adelaide Street

Northampton

Northamptonshire

NN2 7PB

Employer's website

http://www.northantsgpalliance.com/ (Opens in a new tab)