Social Prescriber

NHS; Wisbech; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

An NHS network in Wisbech is seeking a Social Prescriber to support patient care within the Primary Care Network. Responsibilities include managing referrals, developing personalized support plans, and building community relationships to enhance health outcomes. The role involves working collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary team, encouraging self-management and improving accessibility to local services. Experience in community development or health is essential for this vital position in patient empowerment and well-being.

Qualifications

• Experience of supporting families in a related role.
• Experience in a Primary Care or community development context.
• Experience of supporting individuals with mental health.

Responsibilities

• Manage referrals from various agencies for patient support.
• Develop and implement personalized support plans.
• Build relationships with local agencies to improve service access.
• Encourage self-referrals and promote social prescribing.

Skills

Ability to work with patients on a 1:1 basis

Can organise and prioritise workload

Knowledge of social prescribing models

Knowledge of community development approaches

Knowledge of IT systems

Education

GCSE standard

NVQ qualification (2 or 3) in Health and Social Care

Good command of written English

Job description

WisbechPrimary Care Network (PCN) is recruiting a Social Prescriber to support patient care in the development of the Primary CareNetwork.

The PCNhas a population of approximately 50,000 patients and comprises of 4 PracticesNorth Brink Practice, Trinity Surgery, Clarkson Surgery and Parson DroveSurgery. The post holder will work alongside clinicians and other staff acrossthe Wisbech Network as part of a multi-disciplinary team.

Main duties of the job

Takereferrals from a wide range of agencies, working with GP practices withinprimary care networks, pharmacies, multi-disciplinary teams, hospital dischargeteams, allied health professionals, fire service, police, job centres, socialcare services, housing associations, and voluntary, community and socialenterprise (VCSE) organisations (this list is not exhaustive).

Providepersonalised support to individuals, their families and carers to take controlof their wellbeing, live independently and improve their health outcomes. Co-produce apersonalised support plan to improve health and wellbeing, introducing orreconnecting people to community groups and statutory services.

Therole will require managing and prioritising your own caseload. Worktogether with all local partners to collectively ensure that local VCSEorganisations and community groups are sustainable and that community assetsare nurtured, by making them aware of small grants or micro-commissioning if available,including providing support to set up new community groups and services, wheregaps are identified in local provision.

About us

The nature of yourappointment with Wisbech Primary Care Network will require you to work across the Wisbech locality for all four practices, namely Clarkson Surgery, North Brink Practice, Trinity Surgery and Parson Drove Surgery. We may also require you to work, on occasions, at other locations and will include home working at the discretion of the PCN Manager and the requirements of the role.

You will work as part of the Social Prescriber team, which is currently a team of four and as part of the wider PCN organisation which is made up of approximately 37 people and includes a GP, clinical pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, care coordinators, mental health and wellbeing practitioners, nurse associates, general practice assistants and management.

Please submit your application as soon as possible as this vacancy may close sooner if sufficient applications are received earlier than the closing date.

Interviews will be held on Wednesday 7th January 2026

Job responsibilities

KeyTasks:

Referrals

Promoting socialprescribing, its role in self-management, and the wider determinates of health.

Build relationshipswith key staff in GP practice within the local Primary Care Network (PCN),attending relevant meetings, becoming part of the wider network team, givinginformation and feedback on social prescribing.

Be proactive indeveloping strong links with all local agencies to encourage referrals,recognising what they need to be confident in the service to make appropriatereferrals.

Work in partnershipwith all local agencies to raise awareness of social prescribing and howpartnership working can reduce pressure on statutory services, improve healthoutcomes and enable a holistic approach to care.

Provide referralagencies with regular updates about social prescribing, including training fortheir staff and how to access information to encourage appropriate referrals.

See regular feedbackabout the quality of service and impact of social prescribing on referralagencies.

Be proactive inencouraging self-referrals and connecting with all local communities,particularly those communities that statutory agencies may find hard to reach.

Bea friendly source of information about wellbeing and prevention approaches.

Helppeople identify the wider issues that impact on their health and wellbeing,such as debt, poor housing, beingunemployed, loneliness and caring responsibilities.

Workwith the person, their families and carers and consider how they can all besupported through social prescribing.

Helppeople maintain or regain independence through living skills, adaptions,enablement approaches and simple safeguards.

Workwith individuals to co-produce a simple personalised support plan based onthe persons priorities, interests, values and motivations including what they can expect from the groups, activities and services they are beingconnected to and what the person can do for themselves to improve their healthand wellbeing.

Whereappropriate, physically introduce people to community groups, activities andstatutory services, ensuring they are comfortable. Follow up to ensure they are happy, able toengage, included and receiving good support.

Meetpeople on a one-to-one basis, making home visits where appropriate withinorganisational policies and procedures.Give people time to tell their stories and focus on what matters tome. Build trust with the person,providing non-judgemental support, respecting diversity and lifestylechoices. Work from a strength-basedapproach focusing on a persons assets.

Wherepeople may be eligible for a personal health budget, help them to explore thisoption as a way of providing funded, personalised support to be independent,including helping to gain skills for meaningful employment, where appropriate.

Supportcommunity groups and VCSE organisations to receive referrals.

Forgestrong links with local VCSE organisations, community and neighbourhood levelgroups, utilising their networks and building on what is already available tocreate a map or menu of community groups and assets. Use these opportunities to promote micro-commissioningor small grants if available.

Developsupportive relationships with local VCSE organisations, community groups andstatutory services, to make timely, appropriate and supported referrals for theperson being introduced.

Ensurethat local community groups and VCSE organisations being referred to have basicprocedures in place for ensuring that vulnerable individuals are safe and,where there are safeguarding concerns, work with all partners to dealappropriately with issues. Where such policiesand procedures are not in place, support groups to work towards this standardbefore referrals are made to them.

Checkthat community groups and VCSE organisations meet the standard for insuredpremises and that health and safety requirements are in place. Where such policies and procedures are not inplace, support groups to work towards this standard before referrals are madeto them.

Supportlocal groups to act in accordance with information governance policies andprocedures, ensuring compliance with the Data Protection Act.

Workcollectively with all local partners to ensure community groups are strong andsustainable.

Workwith commissioners and local partners to identify unmet needs within thecommunity and gaps in community provision.

Developa team of volunteers within your service to provide buddying support forpeople, starting new groups and finding creative community solutions to localissues.

Encouragepeople, their families and carers to provide peer support and to do things together,such as setting up new community groups or volunteering.

Providea regular confidence survey to community groups receiving referrals, toensure that the are strong, sustained and have the support they need to be partof social prescribing.

Datacapture

Worksensitively with people, their families and carers to capture key information,enabling tracking of the impact of social prescribing on their health andwellbeing.

Workclosely with GP practices within the PCN to ensure that social prescribingreferral codes are inputted onto SystmOne and that the persons use of the NHScan be tracked, adhering to data protection legislation and data sharingagreements with the clinical commissioning group (ICB).

Person Specification

Experience

• Experience of supporting people, their families and carers in a related role (including unpaid work)
• Experience of working within a Primary Care setting
• 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 date 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
• Experience of inputting accurate and timely data onto electronic systems
• Experience of managing a caseload
• Experience of producing individual care plans
• Experience of working within a Primary Care setting

Skills and Knowledge

• Ability to work with patients on a 1:1 basis
• Can organise and prioritise workload
• Knowledge of social prescribing models
• Knowledge of community development approaches
• Knowledge of IT systems, including ability to use Word, emails and the internet to create simple plans
• Awareness of GDPR
• Awareness of Safeguarding Children and Adults
• Knowledge of the personalised care approach
• Understanding of the wider determinants of health, including social, economic and environment factors and their impact on communities
• Experience with SystmOne clinical system

Other requirements

• Ability to travel and work across multiple sites with use of own car (business use included on insurance policy)
• Ability to work at other locations including home working
• Willingness to work flexibly within the team to cover annual leave or sickness
• Ability to travel within the requirements of the role
• Meets DBS reference standards and has a clear criminal record, in line with the law on spent convictions
• Access to own transport insured for business use and ability to travel across the locality on a regular basis, including to visit people in their own homes
• Full driving licence with no restrictions and including business insurance cover

Qualifications

• Educated to GCSE standard
• NVQ qualification (2 or 3) in Health and Social Care or working towards this level
• Good command of written English
• Health and Wellbeing qualifications
• 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.