Job responsibilities
Purpose of
the role
Social prescribing empowers people to take control of their health
and wellbeing through referral to non-clinical social prescribing link workers.
They give people time to focus on what matters to me and take a
holistic approach to an individuals health and wellbeing.
Social prescribing link workers:
Take a whole
population approach, working with a range of people who may benefit from social
prescribing, including people who are lonely, have complex social needs, low
level mental health needs and long-term conditions
Help people
to identify issues that affect their health & wellbeing, and co-produce a
simple personalised care and support plan
Support
people by connecting them to non-medical, community-based activities, groups
and services that meet their practical, social and emotional needs, including
specialist advice services and arts and culture, physical activity, and nature
and green based activities
Use coaching
and motivational interviewing techniques to support people to take control of
their own health and wellbeing
Support
development of accessible and sustainable community offers by working in
partnership with VCSE organisations, local authorities and others to identify
gaps in provision, and take a community development approach to enabling growth
in community activities and groups.
Key responsibilities
Take
referrals from the PCNs Core Network Practices and from a wide range of
agencies, including pharmacies, health and care multi-disciplinary teams, MDTs, the emergency services, legal and welfare advice services, VCSE
organisations, and through self-referrals.
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/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
Promote social 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.
Provide personalised support
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 approximately 6-12 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 persons 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 persons health and wellbeing needs
based on the persons 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/or identified individual(s) to discuss safeguarding concerns and follow PCN safeguarding
policies around reporting and/or escalating concerns
Seek advice
and support from the GP supervisor and/or identified individual(s) to discuss
concerns outside the scope of the social prescribing link workers practice and
make appropriate onward referrals
Supporting the 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 utilise existing networks and build on existing provision
Work collectively with all local
partners to ensure community groups are accessible and sustainable
Work 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.