Community Link Worker (Social Prescribing)

Lakeside Healthcare Group

This job is now closed

Job summary

Social prescribing empowers people to take control of their health and wellbeing through GP referral to non-medical Community Link Workers (CLW’s) based in GP surgeries 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. Community Link Workers work collaboratively with all local partners.

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 people’s active involvement with their local communities. It particularly works 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.

As part of the NHS’ Long-Term Plan to drive Universal Personalised Care, it is aimed to benefit 2.5 million people by March 2024. Social Prescribing is a key component to this.

Main duties of the job

As a member of the established PCN Team, the post holder will work alongside existing Community Link Workers (Social Prescribing) and Care Coordinators within the PCN, as well as local community and voluntary services.

You will help provide a service that focuses on personalised care planning for each patient who requires this level of practical or emotional support.

Build trust with the person and use active listening to focus on a ‘what matters to me’ approach
Receive and manage referrals from multiple sources
Provide sensitive support to understand the wider issues that is impacting a person’s health, such as debt, housing or loneliness
Empower people to take control of their own health, wellbeing and independence
Use the ‘what matters to me’ approach to develop the personalised care and support plans with the help of multidisciplinary teams within the PCN
Follow up with patients to ensure they are happy, engaged and if any further services are required
Work with the team to review any unmet need within the community and potential creation of new services to tackle inequalities across the patch
Apply a caring, resilient, and dynamic approach
Understand the importance of relaying information whilst maintaining confidentiality

Please see the job description for more information.

About us

LAKESIDE HEALTHCARE is changing the face of primary care provision in England. We are bold, adventurous, and ambitious and determined to thrive in uncertain times. We are the largest ‘true’ partnership in the NHS and operate from various sites across the East Midlands. We serve the healthcare needs of over 170,000 patients across Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire & Cambridgeshire. Joining our team presents an opportunity to be part of a large organisation that is changing the way primary care is delivered today.

About the Practice/Department/Team

Primary Care Networks (PCN) were introduced in July 2020, as part of the NHS Long Term Plan, to encourage more collaborative and joint up thinking working across GP surgeries with its local communities.

For more information on PCNs, please visit this link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/primary-care/primary-care-networks/

This role will be based within the St Neots PCN, spanning across the geography of St Neots and Cambourne. This young PCN is, led by an innovative Clinical Director. This PCN prides itself on its caring approach to personalised care and support.

Date posted

13 June 2022

Pay scheme

Other

Salary

£20,000 to £24,500 a year

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Part-time

Reference number

A3007-22-4230

Job locations

Doctors Surgery

14 Huntingdon Street

St. Neots

Cambridgeshire

PE19 1BQ

Job description

Job responsibilities

The PCN’s vision is to ‘work together to deliver the best possible outcomes for our patients and staff’. As the Social Prescribing Link Worker (SPLW), you will work in close partnership with our Lead Social Prescribing Link Worker, member practice teams and health, statutory and voluntary groups to create effective help and support for those that need it. You will be responsible for evolving and optimising the care that SPLWs can deliver as well as being a key point of contact to enable patients to be supported within their local community.

SPLWs empower people to take control of their health and wellbeing. They take a holistic approach, connecting people to community groups and statutory services that offer practical and emotional support. SPLWs support existing groups to be accessible, sustainable and to work collaboratively with all local partners. Wider impacts can include helping to address wider determinants of health such as debt, poor housing and physical inactivity. increasing people’s active involvement, supporting people with long-term conditions (including support for mental health) and minimising the effects of loneliness and isolation.

Key responsibilities

· Liaise and engage with member practices to ensure SPLWs are valued and effective members of the PCN team

· Establish and maintain effective liaison with stakeholders including health, voluntary, social, financial and education resources

· Work in partnership with local voluntary and community organisation to build a comprehensive directory of local resource to design and support social prescribing

· Ensure information on local voluntary and community resource is always up to date to enable effective and accurate signposting and linking of patients with services

· Train and develop wider practice teams to improve SPLW referral suitability and effectiveness

· Establish and maintain comprehensive data and evaluation systems

· Produce quarterly reports in relation to service delivery and progress

· Partake in audit as directed by the PCN Clinical Director

· Take referrals from and make referrals to a wide range of appropriate agencies

· Ensure the social prescribing function within the PCN is successful and delivers the required service in line with NHS England guidelines

· Co-produce personalised support plans with individuals, their families and carers that help them take control of their wellbeing, live independently and improve their health outcomes

· Take a holistic approach, based on the person’s priorities and the wider determinants of health

· When appropriate, refer patients back to other health professionals/agencies, if their requirements exceed the scope of a SPLW

· Ensure all relevant groups and organisations maintain basic procedures that include the consideration of vulnerable individuals and safeguarding concerns

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

· 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, and thereby influence the development of services that will benefit this target population and tackle health and neighbourhood inequalities

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

· Provide one-to-one consultations (mindful of the organisation’s lone working policy), giving patients time to tell their stories and focus on ‘what matters to me’

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

· Work with other link workers to create a wider team understanding of the service that can be offered to patients and opportunities for further improvement of the offer and patient outcomes