Social Prescribing Link Worker Rochdale North PCN

Job description

Job responsibilities

Communication

Promoting social prescribing, its role in self-management, and the wider determinants of health such as housing, finance management and employment.

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.

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 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.

Service Quality

Seek regular feedback about the quality of service and impact of social prescribing referral agencies.

Be proactive in encouraging self-referrals and connecting with all local communities particularly the hard-to-reach groups.

Meet people on a one-to-one basis, making home visits where appropriate within organisations policies and procedures.

Build trust with the person, providing non-judgemental support, respecting diversity and lifestyle choices. Work from a strength-based approach focusing on a persons assets.

Be a friendly source of information aboutwell beingand prevention approaches.

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.

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 signposting to resources that support living skills, adaptations, enablement approaches and simple safeguards.

Work with individuals to co-produce a simple personalised support plan based on the persons priorities, interests, values 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 well being.

Conduct reviews of the plan at set intervals to determine the impact of social prescribing

Ensure that local community groups and voluntary organisations being referred to have basic procedures in place for ensuring that vulnerable individuals are safe and, where there are safeguarding concerns, work with all partners to deal appropriately with issues.

Support local groups to act in accordance with information governance policies and procedures, ensuring compliance with the Data Protection Act.

Service Impact

Work with the network lead; employer and local partners to identify unmet needs within the community and gaps in community provision.

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. Use the case management system to track the persons progress. Provide appropriate feedback to referral agencies about the people they referred.

Work closely with GP practices within the PCN to ensure that social prescribing referral codes are inputted to EMIS and that the persons use of the NHS can be tracked, adhering to data protection legislation and data sharing agreements between GP Practices.

Professional Development

Work with your line manager to undertake mandatory training and continual personal and professional development, taking an active part in reviewing and developing the roles and responsibilities.

Participate in role development programmes delivered and coordinated by the Primary Care Academy

Adhere to organisational policies and procedures, including confidentiality, safeguarding, lone working, information governance, and health and safety.

Work with your line manager to access regular clinical supervision, to enable you to deal effectively with the difficult issues that people present.

Person Specification

Skills

Essential

• Knowledge of the personalised care approach.
• Understanding of the wider determinants of health, including social economic and environment factors and their impact on communities.
• Knowledge of IT systems, including ability to use word processing skills, email and the internet to create simple plans and reports.
• Knowledge of motivational coaching and interview skills.
• Knowledge of statutory, voluntary and community services in the locality.
• Able to listen, empathise with people and provide person-centred support without judgement.
• Able to build relationships with people from all backgrounds and communities, respecting lifestyles and diversity.
• Able to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing with people, their families, careers, community groups, partner agencies and stakeholders.
• Commitment to collaborative working with all local agencies and able to work with other to reduce hierarchies and find creative solutions to community issues.

Experience

Desirable

• At least 2 years experience working directly in a community development context, adult health and social care, learning support or public health/health improvement (including unpaid work).
• At least 2 years 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 volunteers and small community groups either in a paid, unpaid, or informal capacity.
• Experience of clinical systems such as EMIS.
• Experience of data collection and providing monitoring information assess the impact of services.

Qualifications

Essential

• NVQ Level 3, Advanced level, or equivalent qualifications or willing to do so.
• Demonstrable commitment to professional and personal development.

Desirable

• Training in motivational coaching and interviewing or equivalent experience.

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

Rochdale Health Alliance

Address

The Old Post Office

No 2 The Esplanade

Rochdale

Greater Manchester

OL16 1AE

Employer's website

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