Western Dales Health & Wellbeing Coach

Job description

Job responsibilities

Key Duties & Responsibilities:

Referrals

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

2. Assessing, coaching and referring patients on for diagnoses and treating of dietary and nutritional problems.Supporting individuals and communities improve their health and prevent disease through food and lifestyle choices.

3. Linking in with local health groups and community initiatives to develop areas in diet, exercise and overall health improvement for patients

4. 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 health & well-being.

5. 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.

6. Work in partnership with all local agencies to raise awareness of health & well-being/social prescribing and how partnership working can reduce pressure on statutory services, improve health outcomes and enable a holistic approach to care.

7. Provide referral agencies with regular updates about health & well-being, including training for their staff and how to access information to encourage appropriate referrals.

8. Seek regular feedback about the quality of service and impact of coaching on referral agencies.

9. 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 diet, exercise, 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 health & well-being on their lives.

3. Work closely with GP practices within the PCN to ensure that correct 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.

Person Specification

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)

Desirable

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

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 communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, with people, their families, carers, community groups, partner agencies and stakeholders
• Ability to identify risk and assess/manage risk when working with individuals
• 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
• 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
• Demonstrates 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
• Ability to work flexibly and enthusiastically within a team or on own initiative
• 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, information governance, and health and safety

Other

Essential

• Meets DBS reference standards and has a clear criminal record, in line with the law on spent

Desirable

• Willingness to work flexible hours and hours outside normal working hours when required to meet work demands
• Current full driving licence and sole use of car.
• Ability to travel across the locality on a regular basis, including to visit people in their own homes

Qualifications

Essential

• NVQ Level 3, Advanced level or equivalent qualifications or working towards this level.
• Demonstrable commitment to professional and personal development
• Training in motivational coaching and interviewing or equivalent experience
• Experience of partnership/collaborative working and of building relationships across a variety of organisations
• Experience of data collection and providing monitoring information to assess the impact of services

Desirable

• Experience of supporting people to improve outcomes including diet/exercise/weight management, increased activity, improved BP
• Experience of supporting people with their mental health, either in a paid, unpaid, or informal capacity

Knowledge & Skills

Essential

• Understanding of the wider determinants of health, including social, economic, and environmental factors and their impact
• Knowledge of community development approaches
• Knowledge of IT systems, including ability to use word processing skills, emails and the internet to create simple plans
• Knowledge of motivational coaching and interview skills
• Awareness of Safeguarding Children & Adults
• Knowledge of the personalised care approach

Desirable

• Knowledge of VCSE and community services in the locality
• Awareness of GDPR

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

Morecambe Bay Primary Care Collaborative

Address

The Lunesdale Surgery

Wellington Court

Kirkby Lonsdale

Carnforth

Lancashire

LA6 2HQ

Employer's website

https://mbpcc.co.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)