Job summary
Fleetwood Primary Care Network (PCN) is seeking a
compassionate and proactive Social Prescribing Link Worker to join our dedicated team supporting patients across The Mount View Practice,
Fleetwood Surgery, and Broadway Medical Centre.
In this rewarding role, you'll work closely with GP
surgeries and multidisciplinary teams to help individuals take control of their
health and wellbeing. You'll connect patients with local community groups,
volunteering opportunities, and non-clinical support services that address
social, emotional, and practical needs.
You'll be the key point of contact for referred
patients, conducting holistic assessments, facilitating access to services, and
following up to ensure positive outcomes. You'll also play a vital role in
developing community resources and promoting social
prescribing across the PCN.
This is an excellent opportunity for someone with
experience in health or care settings, strong interpersonal skills, and a
passion for community engagement. If you're highly organised, empathetic, and
motivated to make a difference, wed love to hear from you.
Main duties of the job
- Accept and manage referrals from a wide range of agencies including GP practices, pharmacies, social care, and voluntary sector organisations.
- Provide personalised, one-to-one support to individuals, helping them take control of their wellbeing and access community-based services.
- Build trusting relationships and co-produce simple, personalised support plans based on what matters to the individual.
- Manage and prioritise a caseload, recognising when to refer back to clinical or specialist services.
- Work collaboratively within a multi-disciplinary team and across the Primary Care Network (PCN).
- Promote and raise awareness of social prescribing among professionals and the public.
- Support the sustainability of local community groups and help identify and address gaps in community provision.
- Accurately record referrals and outcomes using EMIS and ensure compliance with data protection and information governance standards.
- Encourage self-referrals and engage with underserved or hard-to-reach communities.
About us
Fleetwood Primary Care Network in Fleetwood, Lancashire has an exciting opportunity for a forward-thinking Social Prescribing Link Worker to join our networks innovative Social Prescribing team. There are 3 surgeries within the PCN, located within close proximity of each other, with excellent inter-personal relations, a good support network and a history of collaborative working. The practices are The Mount View Practice, Broadway Medical Centre and Fleetwood Surgery. Our population of around 32,000 is diverse, with varying levels of socio-economic status, young families and elderly patients all of whom make providing care very interesting.
Job description
Job responsibilities
The following are the core responsibilities of the PCN Social Prescribing Link Worker (SPLW). There may be on occasion, a requirement to carry out other tasks. This will be dependent upon factors such as workload and staffing levels:
- To take referrals from a wide range of agencies, working with GP practices within primary care networks, pharmacies, multi-disciplinary teams, hospital discharge teams, allied health professionals, fire service, police, job centres, social care services, housing associations, and voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations (this list is not exhaustive)
- To provide personalised support to individuals, their families and carers to take control of their well-being, live independently and improve their health outcomes
- To develop trusting relationships by giving people time and focus on what matters to me
- To manage and prioritise your own caseload in accordance with the needs, priorities and any urgent support required by individuals on the caseload
- To have a strong awareness and understanding of when it is appropriate or necessary to refer people back to other health professionals or agencies, when what the person needs is beyond the scope of this SPLW role
- To work as part of a multi-disciplinary team in a patient facing role using expert knowledge within the SPLW areas and to promote social prescribing and its role in self-management
- To work together with all local partners to collectively ensure that local VCSE organisations and community groups are sustainable and that community assets are nurtured
- To 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 social prescribing
- To ensure that social prescribing referral codes are inputted to EMIS system and that all information is collated and recording in the correct manner, usage of EMIS system and other spreadsheets. The persons use of the NHS can be tracked, adhering to data protection legislation and data sharing agreements with the ICB
- To liaise with the practices and, where practicable, to standardise the social prescribing process across the PCN
- To 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 outcomes and enable a holistic approach to care
- To provide referral agencies with regular updates about social prescribing, including training for their staff and how to access information to encourage appropriate referrals
- To be proactive in encouraging self-referrals and connecting with all local communities, particularly those communities that statutory agencies may find hard to reach
- To meet people on a one-to-one basis, making home visits where appropriate within organisations policies and procedures giving people time to tell their stories and focus on what matters to me and building trust with the person, providing non-judgemental support, respecting diversity and lifestyle choices. The role requires working from a strength-based approach focusing on a persons assets
- To be a friendly source of information about wellbeing and prevention approaches
- To help people identify the wider issues that impact on their health and well-being such as debt, poor housing, being unemployed, loneliness and caring responsibilities
- To help people maintain or regain independence through living skills, adaptations, enablement approaches and simple safeguards
- To work with individuals to co-produce a simple personalised support plan
- Where people may be eligible for a personal health budget, to 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
- To forge strong links with local organisations, community and neighbourhood level groups, utilising their networks and building on whats already available
- To work with commissioners and local partners to identify unmet needs within the community and gaps in community provision
- To support local partners and commissioners to develop new groups and services where needed, through small grants for community groups, micro-commissioning and development support
- To support in the delivery of enhanced services and other service requirements on behalf of the PCN
- To support patients with virtual and remote models of consultation and support including e-consultations, remote medication review and telehealth and telemedicine
Job description
Job responsibilities
The following are the core responsibilities of the PCN Social Prescribing Link Worker (SPLW). There may be on occasion, a requirement to carry out other tasks. This will be dependent upon factors such as workload and staffing levels:
- To take referrals from a wide range of agencies, working with GP practices within primary care networks, pharmacies, multi-disciplinary teams, hospital discharge teams, allied health professionals, fire service, police, job centres, social care services, housing associations, and voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations (this list is not exhaustive)
- To provide personalised support to individuals, their families and carers to take control of their well-being, live independently and improve their health outcomes
- To develop trusting relationships by giving people time and focus on what matters to me
- To manage and prioritise your own caseload in accordance with the needs, priorities and any urgent support required by individuals on the caseload
- To have a strong awareness and understanding of when it is appropriate or necessary to refer people back to other health professionals or agencies, when what the person needs is beyond the scope of this SPLW role
- To work as part of a multi-disciplinary team in a patient facing role using expert knowledge within the SPLW areas and to promote social prescribing and its role in self-management
- To work together with all local partners to collectively ensure that local VCSE organisations and community groups are sustainable and that community assets are nurtured
- To 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 social prescribing
- To ensure that social prescribing referral codes are inputted to EMIS system and that all information is collated and recording in the correct manner, usage of EMIS system and other spreadsheets. The persons use of the NHS can be tracked, adhering to data protection legislation and data sharing agreements with the ICB
- To liaise with the practices and, where practicable, to standardise the social prescribing process across the PCN
- To 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 outcomes and enable a holistic approach to care
- To provide referral agencies with regular updates about social prescribing, including training for their staff and how to access information to encourage appropriate referrals
- To be proactive in encouraging self-referrals and connecting with all local communities, particularly those communities that statutory agencies may find hard to reach
- To meet people on a one-to-one basis, making home visits where appropriate within organisations policies and procedures giving people time to tell their stories and focus on what matters to me and building trust with the person, providing non-judgemental support, respecting diversity and lifestyle choices. The role requires working from a strength-based approach focusing on a persons assets
- To be a friendly source of information about wellbeing and prevention approaches
- To help people identify the wider issues that impact on their health and well-being such as debt, poor housing, being unemployed, loneliness and caring responsibilities
- To help people maintain or regain independence through living skills, adaptations, enablement approaches and simple safeguards
- To work with individuals to co-produce a simple personalised support plan
- Where people may be eligible for a personal health budget, to 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
- To forge strong links with local organisations, community and neighbourhood level groups, utilising their networks and building on whats already available
- To work with commissioners and local partners to identify unmet needs within the community and gaps in community provision
- To support local partners and commissioners to develop new groups and services where needed, through small grants for community groups, micro-commissioning and development support
- To support in the delivery of enhanced services and other service requirements on behalf of the PCN
- To support patients with virtual and remote models of consultation and support including e-consultations, remote medication review and telehealth and telemedicine
Person Specification
Skills/Abilities
Essential
- Highly organised, able to complete administrative tasks with a high degree of accuracy.
- Ability to collect data for monitoring and evaluation.
- Strong organisational skills, and ability to coordinate information and data from a range of sources.
- Ability to develop strong working relationships with project partners.
- Excellent communication and presentation skills, both oral and written with the ability to present information and advice in a way that is appropriate to the audience.
- Good IT skills in Word, Excel, Outlook and Powerpoint.
- Driver with use of a car.
Desirable
- Experience of using the EMIS system.
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 use own initiative, discretion and sensitivity.
- Ability to communicate complex and sensitive information effectively with people at all levels by telephone, email and face to face with individuals.
- High levels of integrity and loyalty.
- Polite and confident.
- 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 (including VCSE organisations and community groups).
- Able to work with others to reduce hierarchies and find creative solutions to community issues.
- Demonstrate 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 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.
Qualifications
Essential
- GCSE grade A to C in English and Maths
Desirable
- NVQ 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
Experience
Desirable
- 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 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 providing monitoring information to assess the impact of services
- Experience of partnership/collaborative working and of building relationships across a variety of organisations
Person Specification
Skills/Abilities
Essential
- Highly organised, able to complete administrative tasks with a high degree of accuracy.
- Ability to collect data for monitoring and evaluation.
- Strong organisational skills, and ability to coordinate information and data from a range of sources.
- Ability to develop strong working relationships with project partners.
- Excellent communication and presentation skills, both oral and written with the ability to present information and advice in a way that is appropriate to the audience.
- Good IT skills in Word, Excel, Outlook and Powerpoint.
- Driver with use of a car.
Desirable
- Experience of using the EMIS system.
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 use own initiative, discretion and sensitivity.
- Ability to communicate complex and sensitive information effectively with people at all levels by telephone, email and face to face with individuals.
- High levels of integrity and loyalty.
- Polite and confident.
- 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 (including VCSE organisations and community groups).
- Able to work with others to reduce hierarchies and find creative solutions to community issues.
- Demonstrate 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 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.
Qualifications
Essential
- GCSE grade A to C in English and Maths
Desirable
- NVQ 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
Experience
Desirable
- 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 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 providing monitoring information to assess the impact of services
- Experience of partnership/collaborative working and of building relationships across a variety of organisations
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.
