PCN Social Prescribing Link Worker

Job description

Job responsibilities

Promoting social prescribing, its role in self-management, and the wider determinants of health.

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 teams within the PCN 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

Meet people on a one-to-one basis. Give people time to tell their stories and focus on what matters to me. 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 about 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 (if relevant) 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 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 wellbeing.

Where appropriate, physically introduce people to community groups, activities and statutory services, ensuring they are comfortable. 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.

Forge strong links with local VCSE organisations, community and neighbourhood level groups, utilising their networks and building on whats already available to create a map or menu of community groups and assets. Use these opportunities to promote micro-commissioning or small grants if available.

Develop supportive relationships with local VCSE organisations, community groups and statutory services, to make timely, appropriate and supported referrals for the person being introduced.

Ensure that local community groups and VCSE 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. Where such policies and procedures are not in place, support groups to work towards this standard before referrals are made to them.

Check that community groups and VCSE organisations meet in insured premises and that health and safety requirements are in place. Where such policies and procedures are not in place, support groups to work towards this standard before referrals are made to them.

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

Support local partners and commissioners to develop new groups and services where needed, through small grants for community groups, micro-commissioning and development support.

Encourage people who have been connected to community support through social prescribing to volunteer and give their time freely to others, in order to build their skills and confidence, and strengthen 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.

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 SystmOne (GP Clinical database) so that the persons use of the NHS can be tracked, adhering to data protection legislation and data sharing agreements with the clinical commissioning group (CCG).

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.

Work as part of the team to seek feedback, continually improve the service and contribute to business planning.

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.

RECORD KEEPING, INFORMATION COLLECTION AND COMMUNICATION

To ensure data recorded (by post holder and by those staff supervised by post holder) on all electronic systems conforms to necessary policies, processes and protocols.

To be responsible for the accurate maintenance of clinical record keeping and the required communication of individual patient care packages for which the post holder has responsibility.

To be responsible for the accurate recording of information relating to the patients in receipt if care as determined by the PCNs operational policies or when directed by the Clinical Director.

DEVELOPMENT AND SUPERVISION

Participate in clinical audits and research as necessary to own work.

Provide the day to day supervision and direction of junior staff as allocated by the Clinical Director.

To measure own personal goals ensuring they align to the wider PCN goals and strategic objectives.

To assist service projects as and when required.

PROFESSIONAL AND PCN POLICIES

The post holder must comply with all national, statutory, legislative, professional and local policy.

The post holder should proactively contribute to improve local policy and any changes to improve service or protocols.

To be responsible for the application in practice of the PCNs policies and procedures and the limit of the authority and responsibility the post holder has within these.

To operate within the PCNs standing financial instructions and their application to financial and physical resources.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working with the general public
• Experience of working in a healthcare setting or in the leisure industry / public / voluntary sector

Desirable

• Experience of delivering lifestyle changes interventions
• Experience of working with vulnerable people
• Experience of working as a health advisor / trainer
• Experience of partnership/collaborative working and of building relationships across a variety of organisations

Qualifications

Essential

• Educated to GCSE level or equivalent
• NVQ Level 2 in Health and Social Care or other relevant professional experience
• Demonstrate commitment to continuous professional development.

Desirable

• Health & Well-being qualification
• Training in motivational coaching and interviewing or equivalent experience.

Skills and Knowledge

Essential

• Excellent communication skills (written and oral)
• Strong IT skills, including the ability to create simple plans and reports.
• Competent in the use of Office and Outlook
• Effective time management (planning and organising)
• Ability to work as a team member and autonomously
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Problem-solving & analytical skills
• Ability to follow policy and procedure
• General understanding of personalised care, well-being, community services and developments.
• Good understanding of interventions, behavioural and motivational change methodologies
• Good understanding of social prescribing
• Knowledge and understanding of environmental factors, and their impact on communities.

Personal Qualities and Attributes

Essential

• Polite and confident
• Ability to listen, empathise with people and provide person-centred support in a non-judgemental way
• Ability to get along with people from all backgrounds and communities, respecting lifestyles and diversity
• Ability to support people in a way that inspires trust and confidence, motivating others to reach their potential
• Ability to work flexibly and enthusiastically within a team or on own initiative
• Motivated
• Forward thinker
• 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 to other health professionals/agencies e.g. when there is a mental health need requiring a qualified practitioner
• High levels of integrity and loyalty, ability to maintain effective working relationships and to promote collaborative practice with all colleagues
• Knowledge of and ability to work to policies and procedures
• Aware of NHS policies of confidentiality, safeguarding, lone working, information governance, and health and safety
• Ability to plan and prioritise on own initiative, including when working under pressure and meeting deadlines

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

Huntingdon PCN

Address

Huntingdonshire District Council

St. Marys Street

Huntingdon

Cambridgeshire

PE29 3TN

Employer's website

https://www.huntingdonpcn.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)