Social Prescribing Link Worker

We are seeking a compassionate and proactive Social Prescribing Link Worker to join our community health team. The successful candidate will play a vital role in connecting individuals with local services and support networks to improve their overall wellbeing. This paid position offers an excellent opportunity to make a positive impact on people's lives by fostering social inclusion, promoting health, and enhancing quality of life. The role requires excellent communication skills, empathy, and the ability to work collaboratively with diverse community groups and healthcare professionals., Build trusting relationships with clients to understand their social, emotional, and practical needs. Conduct holistic assessments to identify suitable community resources and support options. Develop personalised care plans in collaboration with clients, ensuring they are aware of available services such as leisure activities, housing support, mental health services, and financial advice. Act as a liaison between clients and external organisations, facilitating smooth referrals and follow-up support. Organise group activities or workshops aimed at improving social engagement and wellbeing. Maintain accurate records of client interactions, assessments, and referrals in accordance with data protection policies. Work closely with healthcare professionals to ensure a coordinated approach to patient care. Promote awareness of social prescribing initiatives within the community through outreach activities., Promote social prescribing, its role in self-management, addressing health inequalities and the wider determinants of health. As part of the PCN multi-disciplinary team, build relationships with staff in GP practices within the local PCN, attending relevant MDT meetings, giving information and feedback on social prescribing. 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. 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 access and outcomes and enable a holistic approach to care. Provide referral agencies with regular updates about social prescribing, including training for their staff and how to access information to encourage appropriate referrals. Seek regular feedback about the quality of service and impact of social prescribing on referral agencies. Be proactive in encouraging equality and inclusion, through self-referrals and connecting with all diverse local communities, particularly those communities that statutory agencies may find hard to reach. Provide personalised support 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 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. Work with the person, their families and carers and consider how they can all be supported through social prescribing. 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 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. 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. Seek advice and support from the GP supervisor and/or identified individual(s) 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. 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 diverse VCSE organisations, culturally appropriate community groups and statutory services, to make timely, appropriate and supported referrals for the person being introduced. Work collectively with all local partners to ensure community groups are strong and sustainable Work with commissioners and local partners to identify unmet diverse needs within the community and gaps in community provision. Encourage people who have been connected to community support through social prescribing to volunteer and give their time freely to others, building their skills and confidence and strengthening community resilience. Develop a team of volunteers within your service to provide buddying support for people, starting new groups and finding creative community solutions to local issues. Encourage people, their families and carers to provide peer support and to do things together, such as setting up new community groups or volunteering. 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. Projects As required participate in projects, presentations or workshops General tasks Data capture 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. Encourage people, their families and carers to provide feedback and to share their stories about the impact of social prescribing on their lives. 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 the social prescribing referral codes are inputted into clinical systems (as outlined in the Network Contract DES), adhering to data protection legislation and data sharing agreements. Professional development Work with your supervising GP and/or line manager (if different) 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 your supervising GP to access regular clinical supervision, to enable you to deal effectively with the difficult issues that people present. Miscellaneous 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. 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. Duties may vary from time to time, without changing the general character of the post or the level of responsibility.

Ideally, you will have prior experience of working in the NHS. You will need to hold a Level 3, or equivalent qualification.Experience as a social prescriber would be an advantage.,

• Person Specification social prescribing link worker
• CriteriaEssentialDesirable
• Personal qualities & attributesAbility to actively listen, empathise with people and provide person-centered support in a non-judgmental way
• Able to provide a culturally sensitive service, by supporting people from all backgrounds and communities, respecting lifestyles and diversity
• Commitment to reducing health inequalities and proactively working to reach people from diverse 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 the persons needs are beyond the scope of the link worker role e.g. when there is a mental health need requiring a qualified practitioner
• Able to work from an asset-based approach, building on existing community and personal assets
• 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
• Can demonstrate personal accountability, emotional resilience and ability to work well under pressure
• Ability to organize, 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
• Ability to provide motivational coaching to support peoples behavior change
• Knowledge of, and ability to work to, policies and procedures, including confidentiality, safeguarding, lone working, information governance and health and safety
• Qualifi-cations & TrainingNVQ 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
• ExperienceExperience 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)
• 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 using tools to measure the impact of services
• Experience of partnership / collaborative working and of building relationships across a variety of organisations
• Skills and knowledgeKnowledge of the personalised care approach
• Understanding of the wider determinants of health, including social, economic and environmental factors and their impact on communities, individuals, their families and carers
• Understanding of, and commitment to, equality, diversity and inclusion
• Knowledge of community development approaches
• Knowledge of IT systems, including ability to use word processing skills, emails and the Internet to create simple plans and reports
• Local knowledge of VCSE and community services in the locality
• Knowledge of how the NHS works including primary care
• OtherMeets DBS reference standards and criminal record checks
• Willingness to work flexible hours when required to meet work demands
• Access to own transport and ability to travel across the locality on a regular basis, including to visit people in their own homes
• Clean driving licence
  
  We are a medium sized primary care network of three GP practices working alongside to deliver quality care to patients. We are training practices with a variety of multi-disciplinary team members. We are developing new roles and have successfully implemented new ways of working and offer strong support and mentoring to new members of the team.
The practices in our PCN are Barcroft, St Melor House Surgery, Amesbury and The Castle Practice based at Ludgershall and Tidworth. As a group, we operate a supportive open culture and multi-disciplinary meetings to ensure constant learning and improvement. Our CQC ratings are Good, and we achieve the Quality & Outcomes Framework (QOF) each year.

We are keen to recruit a Social prescribing link worker to join our team at Sarum North PCN based in Amesbury, Tidworth and Ludgershall. We offer a competitive salary. As a team member, you will have a structured development plan, clinical supervision and participate in multi-disciplinary meetings.