Social Prescribing Link Worker

Integrated Care System; Peterborough; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 33,000; Part time

Job summary

A healthcare practice in Peterborough is seeking a Social Prescriber to assist patients in overcoming life challenges impacting their health. The role emphasizes community engagement and personalized care, with responsibilities including assessing needs, developing care plans, and connecting individuals with community support. Ideal candidates will demonstrate strong communication skills and a commitment to health improvement. Training is provided, and this position offers a competitive salary ranging from £30,000 to £33,000 based on experience.

Qualifications

• Experience in community development or health services.
• Experience of building relationships across organizations.
• Commitment to personal and professional development.

Responsibilities

• Assess patient health and well-being needs.
• Co-produce personalised care plans with patients.
• Signpost patients to community groups for support.

Skills

Understanding of health determinants

Community development knowledge

Clear communication skills

Motivational coaching

Ability to work under pressure

Education

Level 3 certificate in Social Prescribing

Job description

An exiting opportunity has arisen for a Social Prescriber at Bretton Park Healthcare, located over 2 sites in Peterborough. We are recruiting a part-time/full-time Social Prescriber who will be part of our well-established and experienced practice team. A Social Prescriber is a non-clinical healthcare professional who responds to concerns raised by the wider GP practice team about any individual facing life challenges that are adversely impacting on their health & wellbeing. It is a diverse and sometimes challenging role with no two days being the same.

Experience in the role is not essential as training will be given.

The employment is for a fixed term contract of 12 months, options to extend maybe avaliable.

Main duties of the job

Social Prescribing helps to strengthen personal and community resilience and reduce health inequalities by addressing the wider determinants of health such as debt, housing and physical inactivity and promotes active involvement within local communities. This can be particularly helpful for people with long-term conditions (including support for mental health), for people who are lonely or isolated, or those with complex social support needs.

Becoming a Social Prescriber is an opportunity to really help people, whether they are lonely, struggling with life or needing help with managing their health condition your starting point is to listen to them and understand what matters most then to create a plan with them for their individual needs. This post will also focus on supporting children, young people, vulnerable adults and families which will develop as you progress in within the role.

You will take a holistic approach, signposting and connecting people to community groups, services, and activities for practical and personalised support. You will be working in partnership with our wider GP Practice team to support patients in taking control of their health and linking them with appropriate support in their local community.

Experience in the role is not essential as training will be given.

About us

Bretton Park Healthcare are two practices that work together. This was a new adventure for both sites from January 2022. We are a dynamic, motivated and friendly team with a passion for education and development. We are a registered training practice and are actively involved in research. We have just under 22,000 patients over the two practice sites. We have a very experienced and highly skilled clinical team of Doctors, Nurse Practitioners, Nurses, HCAs, Pharmacists, Social Prescriber, Care Coordinators who are well supported by an excellent administration team.

Job responsibilities

Job title

Social Prescriber Link Worker

Line manager

Partners, Practice Manager

Accountable to

30 - 37.5 hours per week

Job purpose

The post holder will be an integral part of the practice team. Areferral to a non-medical link worker is designed to support patients inbeing able to take a holistic approach, connecting people to community groupsand statutory services for practical and emotional support.

Socialprescribing can help to strengthen community resilience and personal

resiliencewhilst reducing health inequalities by addressing the wider determinants of healthsuch as debt, poor housing and physical inactivity by increasing peoplesactiveinvolvement with their local communities.

Thisrole can be particularly beneficial to patients with long-term conditions,those with mental health issues and those who are lonely or isolated or whohave complex social needs which affect their wellbeing.

Primary key responsibilities

The following are the core responsibilities of the SocialPrescriber Link Worker. There may be, on occasion, a requirement to carry outother tasks; this will be dependent upon factors such as workload andstaffing levels.

a. Assesshow far a patients health and well-being needs can be met by services andother opportunities available in the community

b. Co-producea simple personalised care and support plan to address the patients healthand well-being needs by introducing or reconnecting people to communitygroups and statutory services, including weight management support andsignposting when appropriate and it matters to the person

c. Evaluatehow far the actions in the care and support plan are meeting the patients health and wellbeing needs

d. Providepersonalised support to patients, their families and carers to take controlof their health and well-being, live independently, improve their healthoutcomes and maintain a healthy lifestyle

e. Developtrusting relationships by giving people time and focus on what

matters to them

f. Takea holistic approach, based on the patients priorities and the widerdeterminants of health, including supporting people to take up employment,training and welfare support

g. Exploreand support access to a personal health budget where appropriate

h. Manageand prioritise their own caseload-, in accordance with the health and well-beingneeds of their population

i. Whenrequired and as appropriate, refer patients back to other healthprofessionals within Bretton Park Healthcare

j. Workas part of a multi-disciplinary team in a patient facing role using expertknowledge within the SPLW areas and promote social prescribing and its rolein self-management

k. Worktogether with all local partners to collectively ensure that local VCSEorganisations and community groups are sustainable and that community assetsare nurtured

l. Buildrelationships with key staff, attending relevant meetings, whichincludes the PCN -becoming part of the wider network team, giving informationand feedback on social prescribing at the monthly learning event.

m. Ensurethat social prescribing referral codes are inputted into Systm1, and that thepersons use of the NHS can be tracked, adhering to data protectionlegislation and data sharing agreements with the ICS/ICB

n. Workin partnership with all local agencies to raise awareness of socialprescribing and how partnership working can reduce pressure on statutoryservices, improve health outcomes and enable a holistic approach to care

o. Beproactive in encouraging self-referrals and connecting with all localcommunities, particularly those communities that statutory agencies may findhard to reach

p. Meetpeople on a one-to-one basis, making home visits when appropriate and inlinewith the practice policy and procedures giving people time to tell theirstories and focus on what matters to me and building trust with the person,providing non-judgemental support, respecting diversity and lifestylechoices. The role requires working from a strength-based approach focusing ona persons assets

q. Helppeople to identify the wider issues that impact on their health andwell-being such as debt, poor housing, being unemployed, loneliness andcaring responsibilities

r. Helppeople to maintain or regain independence through living skills, adaptations,enablement approaches and simple safeguards

s. Workwith individuals to co-produce a simple personalised support plan

t. Whenpeople may be eligible for a personal health budget, help them to explorethis option as a way of providing funded, personalised support to beindependent, including helping people to gain skills for meaningfulemployment when appropriate

u. Forgestrong links with local VCSE organisations, community and neighbourhood levelgroups, utilising their networks and building on what is already available

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

w. Supportlocal partners and commissioners to develop new groups and services whereneeded through small grants for community groups, micro-commissioning anddevelopment support

x. Supportthe delivery of enhanced services and other service requirements on behalf ofthe practice, including the monthly safeguarding adults submission.

y. Delivertraining, mentoring and guidance to other clinicians and staff on SPLWmatters

z. ProduceSPLW newsletters or bulletins when required and feedback at the monthlypractice meetings on current/ongoing issues.

aa. Supportvirtual and remote models of consultation and support includinge-consultations, remote medication review and telehealth and telemedicine

bb. Participatein the management of patient complaints when requested to do so andparticipate in the identification of any necessary learning brought aboutthrough incidents and near-miss events

cc. Managea caseload of potentially complex patients and provide advice for the GPmanagement on the more complex patients

dd. Reviewthe latest guidance ensuring the practice conforms to NICE, CQC etc.

ee. Activelysignpost patients to the correct healthcare professional

ff. Providetargeted support and proactive reviews for vulnerable, complex patients andthose at risk of admission and re-admission to secondary care

gg. Seekregular feedback about the quality of service and impact of socialprescribing on referral agencies

hh. Workwith your line manager to undertake continual personal and professionaldevelopment, taking an active part in reviewing and developing the roles andresponsibilities

ii. Workwith your line manager to access regular clinical supervision, to enableyou to deal effectively with the difficult issues that people present

jj.Undertake all mandatory training and inductionprogrammes

kk. Attenda formal appraisal with their manager at least every 12 months. Once aperformance/training objective has been set, progress will be reviewed on aregular basis so that new objectives can be agreed

ll. Contributeto public health campaigns (e.g., flu clinics) through advice or direct care.

Secondary responsibilities

The SPLW may be requested to:

a. Drawon and increase the strength and capacity of local communities, enablinglocal VCSE organisations and community groups to receive social prescribingreferrals from the SPLW

b. Workcollaboratively with all local partners to contribute towards supporting thelocal VCSE organisations and community groups to become sustainable and ensurethat community assets are nurtured through sharing intelligence regarding anygaps or problems identified in local provision with commissioners and localauthorities

d. Supportthe delivery of QOF, incentive schemes, QIPP and other quality or costeffectiveness initiatives.

e. Undertakeany 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.

f. Dutiesmay vary from time to time without changing the general character of the postor the level of responsibility.

Person Specification

Experience

• 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 working with the VCSE sector (in a paid or unpaid capacity), including with volunteers and small community groups
• Experience of partnership/collaborative working and of building relationships across a variety of organisations
• Experience of supporting people with their mental health, either in a paid, unpaid or informal capacity
• Experience of data collection and providing monitoring information to assess the impact of services
• Experience of working directly in a community development context, adult health and social care, learning support or public health/health improvement (including unpaid work)

skills

• Understanding of the wider determinants of health, including social, economic and environmental factors and their impact on communities
• Knowledge of community development approaches
• Clear, polite telephone manner
• Knowledge of IT systems, including the ability to use word processing skills, emails and the internet to create simple plans and reports
• Knowledge of motivational coaching and interview skills
• Ability to work as a team member and autonomously. Additionally, the ability to work under pressure and to meet deadlines
• Knowledge of VCSE and community services in the locality
• Knowledge of the personalised care approach

Qualifications

• Demonstrable commitment to professional and personal development
• Level 3, certificate in Social Prescribing
• Training in motivational coaching and interviewing or equivalent experience
• 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
• Ability to identify risk and assess/manage risk when working 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 work 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, information governance, and health and safety

Other Requirements

• Willingness to work outside of core office hours
• Occupational health clearance
• Access to own transport and ability to travel across the locality on a regular basis, including to visit people in their own home

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.

£30,000 to £33,000 a yearDependent on experience Salary FTE, pro rata for part time hours