Health Coach Link Worker - PT, 21 hours

Job description

Job responsibilities

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Health Coaches will manage and prioritise a caseload, in accordance with the health and wellbeing needs of their population through taking an approach that is non-judgemental, based on strong communication and negotiation skills, while considering the whole person when addressing existing issues. Where required and as appropriate, the Health Coach will refer people back to other health professionals within the PCN;

Utilise existing IT and MDT channels to screen patients, with an aim to identify those that would benefit most from health coaching;

Provide personalised support to individuals, their families, and carers to support them to be active participants in their own healthcare; empowering them to manage their own health and wellbeing and live independently through:

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;

Providing interventions such as self-management education and peer support;

Supporting patients to establish and attain goals that are important to the patient;

Supporting personal choice and positive risk taking while ensuring that patients understand the accountability of their own actions and decisions, thus encouraging the proactive prevention of further illnesses;

Working as part of the city wide social prescribing service to connect patients to community-based activities which support them to take increased control of their health and wellbeing;

Increasing patient motivation to self-manage and adopt healthy behaviours;

Work with patients with lower activation scores to understand their level of knowledge, skills and confidence (their Activation level), when engaging with their health and well-being and subsequently supporting them in shared decision-making conversations;

Utilise health coaching skills to support people with lower levels of activation to develop the knowledge, skills, and confidence to manage their health and wellbeing, whilst increasing their ability to access and utilise community support offers; and

Explore and support patient access to a personal health budget, where appropriate for their care & support

Support & deliver group Consultations to enable patients to better understand their LTH conditions, how to manage it and encourage the patient agree to self-management goals, and creating a environment for individuals to access peer support

Role Specific Key Tasks

Education

• Promote health & wellbeing coaching, as part of the social prescribing team, across the PCN, Health & Social Care professionals and the wider system, including its role in self-management, addressing health inequalities and the wider determinants of health.
• Support the NHS national vaccination and screening programs by raising awareness.
• The role will require the promotion of key messages such as Eat Well plate and Change4life etc
• Work in partnership with all local agencies to raise awareness of Health Coaching and how partnership working can reduce pressure on statutory services, improve health access and outcomes and enable a holistic approach to care.
• Provide referral agencies with regular updates about Health Coaching, including training for their staff and how to access information to encourage appropriate referrals

Referrals

• Receive and action referrals for Health Coaching via agreed systems.
• Manage and prioritise referrals appropriately.
• Redirect referrals, using the agreed protocols, to more appropriate PCN / MDT Team members or partner agencies.
• Be proactive in developing strong links with all local agencies to encourage referrals.
• Support referral agencies to provide appropriate information about the person they are referring.
• Provide appropriate feedback to referral agencies about the people they referred.
• Work closely within the MDT and with GP practices within the PCN to ensure that Health Coaching codes and data are inputting correctly to support system wide reporting and data analysis.
• Adhere to data protection legislation and data sharing agreements.

Personalised Support

• Listen to and talk with people and their families about what matters to me.
• Be proactive in encouraging equality and inclusion, through connecting with diverse local communities, particularly those communities that statutory agencies may find hard to reach.
• Meet people on a one-to-one basis, making home visits where appropriate within SGPA policies and procedures.
• Give people time to tell their stories and focus on what matters to me.
• Build trust and respect with the person, providing non-judgemental and non-discriminatory support, respecting diversity and lifestyle choices. Work from a strength-based approach focusing on a persons assets.
• Be a friendly and engaging source of information about health, wellbeing and prevention approaches.
• Help people identify the wider issues that impact on their health and wellbeing, such as debt, poor housing, being unemployed, loneliness and caring responsibilities.
• 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 to address the persons health and wellbeing needs, based on the persons priorities, interests, values, cultural and religious/faith needs and motivations.
• Identify what individuals 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 culturally appropriate community groups, activities and statutory services, ensuring they are comfortable, feel valued and respected. 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.

Community Asset Development

• 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.
• Support community groups and VCSE organisations to receive referrals
• Forge strong links with a wide range of local VCSE organisations, community and neighbourhood level groups, utilising their networks and building on whats already available to create a menu of diverse community groups and assets, who promote diversity and inclusion.
• Develop supportive relationships with local VCSE organisations, culturally appropriate community groups and statutory services, to make timely, appropriate and supported referrals for the person being introduced.

Collaborative working

• As part of the PCN multi-disciplinary team, build close working relationships with staff in GP practices within the local PCN, attending relevant MDT meetings, giving information and feedback on social prescribing.
• Seek advice and support from the referring GP to discuss patient-related concerns (e.g. abuse, domestic violence and support with mental health), referring the patient back to the GP or other suitable health professional if required.
• Work with established VCSE organisations and existing Link Workers to provide a robust and consistent approach to our Sunderland people.
• Explore ways of working and share good practice and learning across all social prescribing roles within the system.

Data Collection

• Encourage people, their families and carers to provide feedback and to share their stories about the impact of Health & Wellbeing Coaching on their lives.
• Work sensitively with people, their families and carers to capture key information, enabling tracking of the impact of Heath Coaching on their health and wellbeing.

Professional Development

• Work with GPs and/or line manager to undertake continual personal and professional development, taking an active part in reviewing and developing the roles and responsibilities.
• Adhere to organisational policies and procedures, including confidentiality, safeguarding, lone working, information governance, equality, diversity and inclusion training and health and safety.
• Work with the GP teams to access clinical supervision, where appropriate, to enable you to deal effectively with the difficult issues that people present.

• Seek regular feedback about the quality of the service and impact of social prescribing on referral agencies.
• Work as part of the healthcare team to seek feedback, continually improve the service and contribute to business planning.
• Contribute to the development of policies and plans relating to equality, diversity and health inequalities.

Leadership

• Be a system leader in the development, delivery and education of social prescribing and health coaching, ensuring involvement where value can be added.
• Provide role coaching and mentoring for all staff where appropriate.

• Demonstrate an understanding of ,and contribute to, the workplace vision

• Have a proven commitment to improve quality within limitations of service
• Monitor professional progress, and with the support of supervisor, develop clear plans to achieve goals and maintain high standards of work
• Promote diversity and equality within the workplace and wider community and shall lead by example

Person Specification

Skills and Abilities

Essential

• Prioritise and work to deadlines.
• Outstanding organisational skills
• Work effectively and collaboratively as part of a team but also autonomously.
• High level and adaptable communication skills across a range individuals of all ages, backgrounds and cultures with varying social and emotional needs
• Ability to help people identify issues that impact on health including debt, housing, unemployment, loneliness
• Understanding the impact of economic and environmental factors on peoples health and wellbeing
• Ability to support the development of small voluntary led groups
• Promote and maintain good working relationships with a variety of external partners.
• Keep accurate records of discussions and clearly replicate discussions in writing
• Work on own initiative but within constraints of the role
• Understanding of and commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion
• Ability to competently use technology and IT systems including word processing, email and the internet to create simple personalised plans with individuals

Disposition

Essential

• Ability to work across multiple sites in the Sunderland area
• Provide motivational coaching with the ability to inspire trust and confidence
• Confident and comfortable with difficult situations
• Patient, friendly and approachable
• Able to work under pressure and emotionally resilient
• Ability to work flexible hours which may include evenings or weekends
• Ability to actively listen, empathise with people and provide non-judgemental support
• Ability to respect and value individual lifestyles, backgrounds and cultures

Qualifications

Essential

• Demonstrable commitment to personal and professional development
• Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office applications.
• Qualification or training in UKHCA Health coaching, or equivalent experience level 3 diploma or above or working towards this

Desirable

• Mental Health First Aider
• Level 4 BACPR
• Level 4 Diabetes & Obesity and Respiratory conditions & COPD

Experience

Essential

• Experience of supporting people, their families and carers in a paid or unpaid capacity
• Experience of setting up and delivering Group Consultations within a Health or Community setting
• Experience in delivering behaviour change interventions ie Smoking cessation, NHS Health checks, Weight management
• Demonstrable knowledge in lifestyle or health interventions for example exercise or nutrition
• Experience of supporting people with their mental health or wellbeing needs
• Experience of working in a community setting
• Experience of handling confidential information.
• Experience of collecting and recording information and data
• Ability to identify risk to self and others, Identifying and reporting safeguarding incidents

Desirable

• Working Knowledge of Long Term Conditions for example diabetes or cardiovascular disease
• Experience of working in or with voluntary organisations or groups in a paid or unpaid capacity
• Experience of working collaboratively with different organisations, building trust, confidence and partnerships
• Extensive knowledge of local services within a Sunderland Locality through either living or working within one of the wider Sunderland settings.
• Experience of working with GPs and/or other Health or Social Care providers or knowledge of how systems work

Other

Essential

• Full, valid driving licence and use of own car.
• Meet DBS standards and Criminal Record checks

Desirable

• Membership of professional body (ICF, EMCC, AoC, UKHCA, BPA)

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

Sunderland GP Alliance

Address

North East BIC

Wearfield

Sunderland

Tyne and Wear

SR5 2TA

Employer's website

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