Job responsibilities
Health and Wellbeing Coach
Purpose of the role
Health and wellbeing coaches support people to take proactive steps to improve
the way they manage their physical and mental health conditions, based on what
matters to them. They support people to develop their knowledge, skills,
confidence in managing their health and care, to improve their health outcomes
and quality of life and support them making changes in health related
behaviours. Health coaches do this by coaching and motivating people through
multiple sessions to identify their needs and to set goals for themselves, and
through providing access to interventions such as self-management education and
peer support.
Health and wellbeing coaches manage and prioritise a
caseload, according to the needs, priorities and support required by
individuals in the caseload. They identify when a persons needs are beyond the
scope of the health and wellbeing coach role and refer them back to other
health professionals or organisations. Health and wellbeing coaches may work
with people by phone, by video conference, or face-to-face on a one-to-one
basis and in groups.
The successful candidate will be compassionate, reflective
and self-aware and will enjoy working with a wide range of people. They will
have good communication and negotiation skills and a firm belief that people
have untapped resources within them, that can be developed by providing high
quality, non-judgemental support. They will be proactive with a flexible
attitude, keen to work as part of a team and committed to developing themselves
in this skilled role and supporting colleagues to do the same.
Health and wellbeing coaches often work alongside social
prescribing link workers and care co-ordinators to provide an all-encompassing
approach to personalised care and promote and embed the personalised care
approach across within the practice.
Health and wellbeing coaches will have access to ongoing
supervision, skills development, and support so they are able to further build
their skills and experience within the role.
Please note that the health and wellbeing coach works under
delegation of a registered health professional.
Key responsibilities
Provide one-to-one and group health coaching support for
people based on what is important to them, with the aim of:
- improving peoples knowledge, skills and
confidence in managing their health condition/s,
- empowering and motivating people to set goals to
improve their health outcomes,
- and supporting them to change their health
related behaviour.
Manage and prioritise a caseload, in accordance with the
needs, priorities and support required by individuals in the caseload. Along
with a strong awareness and understanding of when it is appropriate or
necessary to refer people back to other health professionals/agencies, because
the persons needs are beyond the scope of the health and wellbeing coach role
e.g. when there is a change in the persons health condition or where unmet
clinical support needs are identified.
Work as part of a multidisciplinary, multi-agency team to
promote health coaching and to be an ambassador for Personalised Care and
Supported Self Management, modelling the coaching approach in their work.
Ensure that GPs, practice nurses, practice pharmacists and
other members of the primary care team understand the health and wellbeing
coach role, how to refer to them, and which patients may particularly benefit
from health coaching.
Support local health, social care and voluntary sector
professionals to make appropriate referrals to the service. Promote and raise
awareness of the health coaching service particularly to groups and communities
that experience barriers to access.
Attend and contribute to team within the practice
Work flexibly, adapting to the needs of the service and
client group while maintaining the integrity of the role.
Participate in regular health coaching supervision and
continual learning. This may include, but is not limited to, any or all the
following-
o
Regular contact with supervisors
o
Refresher training sessions
o
Buddying with peers
o
Peer support sessions
o
1:1 support from a practitioner with more health
coaching experience
o
Action learning sets
o
e-learning to revisit or deepen training
o
On-going improvements to systems and processes
Key tasks
Provide personalised support
Meet people on a one-to-one or group
consultation basis, by phone, video conference, or face-to-face.
Give people time to tell their stories and focus
on what matters to the person;
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
Use a structured framework/model approach to
coach individuals across a series of sessions to- identify what's important to
them, set personal goals and appropriate steps, build skills and confidence to
achieve goals, and use problem-solving to work through challenges
Work with the principles of self-management to
actively support-
- shared decision making with healthcare
professionals
- effective engagement with personalised health
and care plans;
- support delivery of self-management education
and peer support;
- proactive engagement with social prescribing,
connecting people to community-based activities which support their health and
wellbeing;
- proactive engagement with individually sourced
activities and support
- access to a care-coordinator and/or a personal
health budget, where needed
Referrals-
Promote health coaching, its role in supported
self-management as a part of personalised care, in addressing health
inequalities and the wider determinants of health
As part of the practice's multidisciplinary team, attending
relevant multidisciplinary meetings, giving information and feedback on health
coaching
Be proactive in developing strong links with
local organisations to encourage referrals, recognising what they need to be
confident in the service to make appropriate referrals
Work in partnership with local agencies to raise
awareness of health coaching and how improving peoples knowledge, confidence,
skills can enable them to improve their ability to manage their long-term
conditions, reduce reliance on clinical services and improve patient experience
and outcomes
Provide referral organisations with regular
updates about health coaching, including information on how to encourage
appropriate referrals
Seek regular feedback about the quality of
service and impact of health coaching
Be proactive in encouraging equality and
inclusion and case-finding, through self-referrals and connecting with diverse
local communities, particularly those communities that are less likely to
engage with statutory bodies.
General tasks
Gathering and reporting information
Work sensitively with people, their families and
carers to gather key information, enabling tracking of the impact of health
coaching on their health and wellbeing
Encourage people, their families and carers to
provide feedback and to share their stories about the impact of health coaching
on their lives
Support referral organisations to provide
appropriate information about the person they are referring. Provide
appropriate feedback to referral agencies about the people they referred and
their outcomes
Work within the GP practice to ensure that the relevant SNOMED codes
to record activity are inputted into clinical systems (as outlined in the
Network Contract DES), adhering to data protection legislation and data sharing
agreements.
Supervision/ professional development
Discuss patient related concerns with a relevant
clinician, and follow appropriate safeguarding procedures
Take part in individual and group coaching
supervision from an experienced health coaching supervisor
Understand and adhere to organisational policies
and procedures, including confidentiality, safeguarding, vulnerable adults,
lone working, information governance, equality, diversity and inclusion
training and health and safety.
Miscellaneous
Establish strong working relationships with GPs,
practice teams and relevant multidisciplinary teams and work collaboratively
with other health and wellbeing coaches, care co-ordinators and social
prescribing link workers, supporting each other, respecting each others views
and meeting regularly as a team
Act as a champion for health coaching as a part
of the practice's personalised care offer for patients and organisations
Demonstrate a flexible attitude and be prepared
to carry out other duties as may be reasonably required from time to time
within the general character of the post or the level of responsibility of the
role, ensuring that work is delivered in a timely and effective manner
Identify opportunities and gaps in the service -
and review risks and issues that could impact on service delivery - and provide
feedback to continually improve the service and contribute to business
planning
Contribute to the development of policies and
plans relating to equality, diversity and health inequalities
Work in accordance with the practice's policies and procedures
Contribute to the wider aims and objectives of
the PCN to improve and support primary care.
