Social Prescribing Link Worker/Health & Wellbeing Coach

Morecambe Bay Primary Care Collaborative

This job is now closed

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen for dual role Social Prescriber / Health & Wellbeing Coach to join our developing multidisciplinary team in the Carnforth & Milnthorpe Primary Care Network.

This role provides a great opportunity to join a team who are committed in providing additional care and services across our patient population.

We are looking for compassionate, collaborative, and motivated colleague to support people to take pro-active steps to improve the way they manage their physical and mental health conditions, based on what matters to them. The role supports people to develop their knowledge, skills, and confidence or to build their motivation and engagement to managing their own health and care and to improve their health outcomes and quality of life.

You will do this by supporting, coaching, and motivating patients through multiple sessions to identify their needs, set goals, and supporting patients to achieve their personalised health and care plan objectives and providing interventions such as self-management education and peer support to which you will signpost patients, so they continue to achieve objectives without support in the long-term.

You will be an essential part of a dynamic and forward-thinking multidisciplinary team working to provide enhanced care to these groups of patients

Main duties of the job

The role will require managing and prioritising your own caseload, in accordance with the needs, priorities and any urgent support required by individuals on the caseload. It is vital that you 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 needs is beyond the scope of the link worker role e.g., when there is a mental health need requiring a qualified practitioner.

Draw on and increase the strengths and capacities of local communities, enabling local VCSE organisations and community groups to receive social prescribing referrals. Ensure they are supported, have basic safeguarding processes for vulnerable individuals and can provide opportunities for the person to develop friendships, a sense of belonging, and build knowledge, skills, and confidence.

Work together with all local partners to collectively ensure that local VCSE organisations and community groups are sustainable and that community assets are nurtured, by making them aware of small grants or micro-commissioning if available, including providing support to set up new community groups and services, where gaps are identified in local provision.

About us

Carnforth and Milnthorpe PCN is a two practice PCN, consisting of Ash Trees Surgery and Park View Surgery. We have around 31,000 patients within our PCN. We are led by Dr George Hobbs as Clinical Director and Dr Julia Smith as Deputy Clinical Director. We are forward-thinking, supportive, and innovative PCN fully committed to providing excellent care to our population.

Patients are at the heart of everything we do, and we pride ourselves in ensuring our patients feel safe, supported, communicated with and respected, at a time when they may be feeling vulnerable.

Our vision is to provide high quality, seamless health care that enables people to lead healthier independent lives, whilst feeling supported and cared for.

Date posted

28 November 2022

Pay scheme

Other

Salary

Depending on experience

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

B0160-22-0417

Job locations

Ashtrees Surgery

Market Street

Carnforth

Lancashire

LA5 9JU

Job description

Job responsibilities

Referrals

1. Promoting social prescribing, its role in self-management, and the wider determinants of health.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

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

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

7. 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

1. 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. Build trust with the person, providing non- judgemental support, respecting diversity and lifestyle choices. Work from a strength-based approach focusing on a persons assets.

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

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

4. Work with the person, their families and carers and consider how they can all be supported through social prescribing/coaching.

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

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. Support community groups and VCSE organisations to receive referrals

9. 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.

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

11. 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.

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

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

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

15. To be involved in and group activities, consultations, and support groups and to facilitate improvements for health and wellbeing.

16. Facilitate groups of patients-in group consultations to assist patients to work with others for their own goals, including case finding groups of like-minded people.

Data capture

1. 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.

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

3. Work closely with GP practices within the PCN 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 clinical commissioning group (CCG).

Clinical Governance

1. Identify risk issues that impact on peoples health or social care needs.

2. Take appropriate action to the significance of the risk and consistent with protection procedures, applying protection procedures, following lone worker procedure.

3. Demonstrate effective team working inclusive of all relevant professionals.

4. Report all accidents / incidents, and all ill health, failings in equipment and / or environment to line managers.

5. Contribute towards audit and data collection as required.

6. Once assessed as competent will be accountable for their own practice within their area of responsibility when identified and agreed with the line manager.

7. Work with your line manager to undertake continual personal and professional development, taking an active part in reviewing and developing the roles and responsibilities.

8. Adhere to organisational policies and procedures, including confidentiality, safeguarding, lone working, information governance, and health and safety.

9. Work with the Clinical mentor to access regular clinical supervision, to enable you to deal effectively with the difficult issues that people present.

Miscellaneous

1. Work as part of the team to seek feedback, continually improve the service and contribute to business planning.

2. Undertake any tasks consistent with the level of the post and the scope of the role, ensuring that work is delivered in a timely and effective manner.

3. Duties may vary from time to time, without changing the general character of the post or the level of responsibility.

Supervision

The postholder will have access to appropriate clinical supervision and an appropriate named individual in the PCN to provide general advice and support on a day-to-day basis.