Socialprescribing is a vital and growing part of modern primary care. Within PrimaryCare Networks (PCNs), it offers a holistic, personcentred approach thatrecognises the powerful impact of social, emotional, and practical factors onhealth. By connecting people to meaningful communitybased support, SocialPrescribing Link Workers help individuals take control of their wellbeing whilereducing pressure on GP services and strengthening the resilience of the widerhealth system.
Main duties of the job
Take referrals from the PCN patients and from a wide range of agencies, including pharmacies, health and caremulti-disciplinary teams (MDTs), the emergency services, legal and welfareadvice services, VCSE organisations, and through self-referrals (list not exhaustive).
Provide personalised support to individuals,their families and carers to access community-based activities and support thatcan help them to take control of their health and wellbeing throughco-producing a simple personalised care and support plan and introducing peopleto appropriate activities, groups and services as described above.
Work with appropriate supervision as part of thePCN to manage and prioritise your own caseload, in accordance with needs,priorities and support required by individuals. Refer people back to otherhealth professionals, agencies, as appropriate or necessary.
Build ongoing relationships with localinfrastructure organisations, community activities, and support services toincrease knowledge of the community support offer, and work collaboratively todevelop effective partnership working to support the community offer to besustainable, identifying gaps in provision, nurturing community assets and sharingintelligence on gaps or problems with commissioners and local authorities
About us
SHP are a Solihull based partnership looking after over 56,000 patients and operating out of 7 sites.
Job responsibilities
Keyresponsibilities
Take referrals from the PCN patients and from a wide range of agencies, including pharmacies, health and caremulti-disciplinary teams (MDTs), the emergency services, legal and welfareadvice services, VCSE organisations, and through self-referrals (list not exhaustive).
Provide personalised support to individuals,their families and carers to access community-based activities and support that can help them to take control of their health and wellbeing through co-producing a simple personalised care and support plan and introducing people to appropriate activities, groups and services as described above.
Work with appropriate supervision as part of the PCN to manage and prioritise your own caseload, in accordance with needs, priorities and support required by individuals. Refer people back to other health professionals and agencies, as appropriate or necessary.
Build ongoing relationships with local infrastructure organisations, community activities, and support services to increase knowledge of the community support offer, and work collaboratively to develop effective partnership working to support the community offer to be sustainable, identifying gaps in provision, nurturing community assets and sharing intelligence on gaps or problems with commissioners and local authorities.
Increase the strength and capacity of the community, enabling local VCSE organisations and community groups to both receive social prescribing referrals and to make referrals to social prescribing link workers.
Educate non-clinical and clinical staff within PCN MDTs on the community support offer, how and when patients can access it, and the value of non-medical community-based interventions. This may include verbal or written advice and guidance.
Promote social prescribing as an approach across the PCN and wider agencies, including its role in supported self-management, in addressing health inequalities and the wider determinants of health, reducing pressure on statutory services, improving access to healthcare and improving health outcomes, and in taking a holistic approach to care.
Key Tasks
Referrals
Promotesocial prescribing as an approach across the PCN by attending relevant MDT meetings to build relationships and developing links with local agencies.
Proactively develop strong links with local agencies to encourage appropriate referrals.
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.
Proactively encourage equitable participation in social prescribing through taking self-referrals and connecting with diverse local communities through a range of methods, particularly communities that statutory agencies may find hard to reach and where health inequalities are most prevalent.
Meet people on a one-to-one basis, making home visits and visits to community organisation where appropriate and within organisations policies and procedures.
Use appropriate judgement to ascertain the number and length of sessions required, responding to the needs of the individual and their circumstances, for 6-10 contacts over 3 months.
Give people time to tell their stories and focus on the question, what matters to me?
Build trust and respect with the person, providing non-judgemental and non-discriminatory support, taking a strength-based approach that focuses on a person’s assets.
Work with the person, their families and carers and consider how they can all be supported through social prescribing.
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 individuals to co-produce a simple personalised support plan to address the person’s health and wellbeing needs based on the person’s priorities, interests, values, cultural and religious faith needs, and motivations.
Provide information on what people can from the groups, activities, and services they are being connected to
Provide information on what the person can do for themselves to improve their health and wellbeing.
Physically introduce people to appropriate community groups and activities, peer support groups, or statutory services, ensuring they are comfortable, feel valued and respected.
Provide follow up support to the person to ensure they are happy, able to engage, feel included and that they are receiving good support.
Help people maintain or regain independence through living skills, adaptations, enablement approaches, and simple safeguards.
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 identified individual(s) to discuss safeguarding concerns and follow PCN safeguarding policies around reporting and escalating concerns.
Seek advice and support from the GP supervisor and identified individual(s) to discuss concerns outside the scope of the social prescribing link workers practice and make appropriate onward referrals.
Supportingthe community offer
Develop supportive relationships with local VCSE organisations, community groups, and statutory services, to understand their offer and make timely, appropriate, and supported referrals.
Create strong links with local agencies to use existing networks and build on existing provision.
Collaborate collectively with all local partners to ensure community groups are accessible and sustainable.
Collaborate with commissioners and local partners to identify and share information on unmet diverse needs within the community and gaps in community provision.
Support development of community groups and assets who promote diversity and inclusion.
Encourage people who have been connected to community support through social prescribing to volunteer or to start their own activities and groups.
Support existing local volunteering schemes to strengthen community resilience and explore potential to develop a team of volunteers to provide buddying support, peer support or to start new community-based groups or activities.
Support referral agencies to provide appropriate information about the person they are referring, including demographic data and data on wider determinants, for example, caring status.
Provide appropriate and timely feedback to referral agencies about the people they referred.
Collaborate sensitively with people, their families, and carers to capture key information to measure impact of social prescribing on their health and wellbeing, using validated tools determined locally such as the ONS4 wellbeing scale to assess need and measure outcomes.
Encourage people, their families, and carersto provide feedback on their experience, for example, through patient satisfaction surveys, and to share their stories about the impact of social prescribing on their lives.
Ensure that social prescribing referral SNOMEDcodes are coded appropriately into clinical systems (as outlined in the Network Contract DES)
Adhere to PCN policies around data protection legislation and data sharing agreements, ensuring people give appropriate consent.
Collaborate with a supervisor and line manager to undertake continual personal and professional development in line with the social prescribing Workforce Development Framework Competency Framework.
Work with your supervising GP and line manager to access regular clinical non-managerial supervision.
Take an active role in reflecting, reviewing, and developing professional knowledge, skills, and behaviours.
Attend appropriate mandatory training before working with people and be aware of own competence, maintaining boundaries around scope of practice and referring onwards for people whose needs fall outside of these boundaries.
Adhere to organisational policies and procedures, including confidentiality, safeguarding, lone working, information governance, equality, diversity and inclusion training, health, and safety.
Work as part of the MDT to seek feedback, continually improve the service, and contribute to service planning.
Contribute to the development of policies and plans relating to equality, diversity and inclusion, accessibility 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.
Other
- Flexibility to meet the needs of the business
- Able to travel to all SHP sites
- DBS required
Experience
- Recent and relevant administrative experience (demonstrated by a minimum of 2 years experience)
- Detailed knowledge of Microsoft Office: Word / Excel / Outlook/Teams
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Experience of maintaining office systems
- Experience of setting up and implementing internal processes
- Experience of updating social media platforms.
- Experience in dealing with confidential information
- Previously worked in a similar position within the Public Sector
Qualifications
- GCSE Math & English grade C or above
Personal Attributes
- Strong team player with the ability to work effectively as part of a team
- Self-motivated, enthusiastic, and approachable
- Confident at dealing with people at all levels
Knowledge and skills
- Excellent keyboard / IT skills
- Ability to communicate clearly with a range of contacts, both verbally and in writing
- Excellent attention to detail and accuracy
- Ability to manage and prioritise own workload and use own initiative
- Strong organisational skills and ability to multitask
- Ability to work under pressure
- Ability to work autonomously
- Excellent time management skills with the ability to prioritise conflicting demands in order to meet deadlines
- Ability to deal professionally with enquiries from staff, service users and stakeholders
- Excellent keyboard / IT skills
- Ability to communicate clearly with a range of contacts, both verbally and in writing
- Excellent attention to detail and accuracy
- Analytical skills
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.
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