Children & Young person Social Prescribing Link Worker

Job description

Job responsibilities

The following are the core responsibilities of the PCN Children and Young persons social prescribing link worker (CYPSPLW). There may be on occasion, a requirement to carry out other tasks. This will be dependent upon factors such as workload and staffing levels: 

a. To take referrals from a wide range of agencies, working with GP practices within primary care networks, pharmacies, multi-disciplinary teams, hospital discharge teams, allied health professionals, fire service, police, job centres, social care services, housing associations, and voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations [this list is not exhaustive] 

b. To provide personalised support to individuals, their families and carers to take control of their wellbeing, live independently and improve their health outcomes 

c. To develop trusting relationships by giving people time and focus on ‘what matters to me’ 

d. To manage and prioritise your own caseload in accordance with the needs, priorities and any urgent support required by individuals on the caseload 

e. To have a strong awareness and understanding of when it is appropriate or necessary to refer people back to other health professionals or agencies, when what the person needs is beyond the scope of this SPLW role 

f. To work as part of a multi-disciplinary team in a patient facing role using expert knowledge within the SPLW areas and to promote social prescribing and its role in self-management 

g. To work together with all local partners to collectively ensure that local VCSE organisations and community groups are sustainable and that community assets are nurtured 

h. To build relationships with key staff in GP practices within the local Primary Care Network (PCN), attending relevant meetings, becoming part of the wider network team, giving information and feedback on social prescribing 

i. To ensure that social prescribing referral codes are inputted to EMIS system and that the person’s use of the NHS can be tracked, adhering to data protection legislation and data sharing agreements with the CCG 

j. To liaise with the practices and, where practicable, to standardise the social prescribing process across the PCN 

k. To 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 

l. To provide referral agencies with regular updates about social prescribing, including training for their staff and how to access information to encourage appropriate referrals 

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

n. To meet people on a one-to-one basis, making home visits where appropriate within organisations’ policies and procedures giving people time to tell their stories and focus on ‘what matters to me’ and building trust with the person, providing non-judgemental support, respecting diversity and lifestyle choices. The role requires working from a strength-based approach focusing on a person’s assets 

 o. To be a friendly source of information about wellbeing and prevention approaches 

 p. To help people identify the wider issues that impact on their health and well-being such as debt, poor housing, being unemployed, loneliness and caring responsibilities 

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

r. To work with individuals to co-produce a simple personalised support plan 

s. Where people may be eligible for a personal health budget, to 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 

 t. To forge strong links with local organisations, community and neighbourhood level groups, utilising their networks and building on what’s already available 

u. To work with commissioners and local partners to identify unmet needs within the community and gaps in community provision 

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

 w. To support in the delivery of enhanced services and other service requirements on behalf of the PCN 

x. To produce SPLW newsletters or bulletins on a quarterly basis 

y. To support virtual and remote models of consultation and support including econsultations, remote medication review and telehealth and telemedicine 

Person Specification

Qualifications

Desirable

• NVQ Level 3, advanced level or equivalent qualifications or
• working towards
• Demonstrable commitment to professional and personal
• development
• Training in motivational coaching and interviewing or
• equivalent experience

Personal Qualities

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 use own initiative, discretion and sensitivity
• Ability to communicate complex and sensitive information
• effectively with people at all levels by telephone, email and
• face to face with individuals
• High levels of integrity and loyalty
• Polite and confident
• Able to work from an asset-based approach, building on
• existing community and personal assets
• Able to provide leadership and to finish work tasks
• Ability to maintain effective working relationships and to
• promote collaborative practice with all colleagues
• Commitment to collaborative working with all local agencies
• (including VCSE organisations and community groups). Able to
• work with others to reduce hierarchies and find creative
• solutions to community issues
• Demonstrate personal accountability, emotional resilience and
• works well under pressure
• Ability to organise, plan and prioritise on own initiative,
• including when under pressure and meeting deadlines
• High level of written and oral communication skills
• Understanding of the needs of small volunteer-led community
• groups and ability to support their development
• Knowledge of and ability to work to policies and procedures,
• including confidentiality, safeguarding, lone working

Experience

Desirable

• 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 with their mental health, either
• in a paid, unpaid or informal capacity
• Experience of working with the VCSE sector (in a paid or
• unpaid capacity), including with volunteers and small
• community groups
• 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

Fleetwood Community Care Ltd

Address

Health & Wellbeing Centre

Dock Street

Fleetwood

FY7 6HP

Employer's website

https://www.fleetwoodpcn.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)