Social Prescribing Link Worker

Ely PCNs; Soham; Hybrid; GBP 31,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

Ely PCNs in East Cambridgeshire is seeking a Social Prescriber to help patients access non-medical support and connect with local community networks to improve wellbeing.

The post is full-time (37.5 hours) across seven GP practices with hybrid working, including home and practice-based activity. You will support individuals to plan realistic steps and navigate services within the local community.

Qualifications

• Two years experience of working in adult health and social care, or related sectors.
• Experience of supporting people, their families and carers.
• Experience of working with the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector.

Responsibilities

• Empower individuals to take control of their health and wellbeing.
• Help connect people to community groups and statutory services for practical, social and emotional support.
• Collaborate with community partners to support existing and new groups to be accessible and sustainable.

Skills

Empathy

Excellent communication

Team player

Community liaison

Education

GCSE grade C or equivalent in Maths and English

Job description

The post is a full-time post (37.5 hours) and the successful candidate will be deployed across any of the practices within Ely PCNs, depending on service need. It may also be necessary to provide cross-cover for annual leave, sickness and similar situations.

This job is about helping people work out what they need to improve their health and wellbeing; and then supporting them to make practical and realistic plans to change things for the better.

The role very much involves helping the person connect into their own local community networks of family, friends, and organisations, and helping the person navigate existing health and social care services when needed.

Over the last seven years, our Social Prescribing Link Workers have become key members of our GP Practice teams - highly valued and appreciated by the GPs and Practice team colleagues, and also by the frontline staff from other organisations working across the East Cambridgeshire Neighbourhood.

We have seven Social Prescribers in our team, one for each of our seven Network practices.

All Social Prescribers have regular support and supervision from our Lead Social Prescriber and Neighbourhood Practice Lead and are encouraged to develop their skills within the role.

Interviews will be held week commencing 7th December 2026.

Main duties of the job

The post-holderwill work directly one-to-one with patients who need help with non-medical aspects of their lives. Thiswill include supporting people with emotional, social and practical support,including:

• getting help with housing
• getting help with transport, mobility, and accessibility
• accessing advice around money, debt, and benefits
• managing forms and correspondence
• making meaningful social connections
• connecting with mental health services and social services
• maintaining healthy lifestyles, activities, and exercise
• finding and maintaining employment and meaningful activities
• getting help with activities of daily living and assistive technology
• Getting help with any family or caring responsibilities they may have.

The Social Prescriber is not expected to be expert in each and every area above, but is expected to be a skilled generalist: able to rapidly get a good understanding of the patients own views, needs, and wishes, know what help is available, and how to access it.

Furthermore, over time, Social Prescribers develop a detailed picture and understandingoftheir local community - what's available, what isn't, what works, and this intelligence helps identify areas of greatest need and the prioritiesfor community development. Many of our Social Prescribers have had greatsuccess working with others to set up groups and activities in their local GP patches.

The above is not an exhaustive list.

About us

Primary Care Networks formed in 2019, grouping General Practices into local clusters, with the aim of supporting Practices and driving improvements in population health and wellbeing at a community level.

Ely PCNs are a network of seven of the eight GP Practices in East Cambridgeshire and, in total, look after over 90,000 patients registered at one of our seven GP Practices:

Ely North PCN

• Cathedral Medical Centre, Ely
• Priors Field Surgery, Sutton
• St Georges Medical Centre, Littleport

Ely South PCN

• Staploe Medical Centre, Soham

Working alongside the GP Practice teams, Ely PCNs support 50 staff, including Social Prescribers, First Contact Physios, Care Coordinators, Health and Wellbeing Coaches, a Recovery Coach, Pharmacy Technicians, and Clinical Pharmacists. Ely PCNs has a full-time manager, a Lead Nurse, and GP Leads for Diabetes, Frailty, Heart failure, and Mental Health.

We have two forward-thinking Clinical Directors and excellent relationships with our local partner organisations. We have a reputation as an innovative PCN that can successfully deliver.

Job responsibilities

The principle of Social Prescribing is to empower people totake control of their health and wellbeing.

Social Prescribing Link Workers are able to offerindividuals time and information. They take a holistic approach to the personshealth and wellbeing and help the person focus on what matters to them, and inthe context of their local communities.

Link Workers will help connect people to community groupsand statutory services for practical, social and emotional support, and workcollaboratively with community partners to support existing and new groups tobe accessible and sustainable.

Social prescribing can help PCNs to strengthen personal, andcommunity, resilience. Increasing peoples active involvement with their localcommunities can reduce health and wellbeing inequalities by addressing thewider determinants of health, such as debt, poor housing and physicalinactivity. This approach particularly works for people with long termconditions including support for mental health, for people who are lonely orisolated, or have complex social needs that affect their wellbeing.

Social Prescribers already working with the Ely PCNs havehad a positive impact on Practices and patients and communities.

Key aspects ofthe role

• Provide personalised support to individuals,their families and carers to help them take control of their health andwellbeing, live independently and improve their health outcomes.
• Develop trusting relationships by giving peopletime and focus on what matters to me. Take a holistic approach, based on thepersons priorities.
• Work with individuals,to co-produce a simple personalised support plan to address the personshealth and wellbeing needs based on the persons priorities, interests,values and motivations.
• To take referrals from a wide range of agencies.These agencies might include for example PCN member-Practices and Practicemulti-disciplinary teams; hospital discharge teams, allied healthprofessionals, fire service, police, job centres, social care services, housingassociations, and voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations.
• This is a community focused post. Thepost-holder will be expected to work with clients and colleagues in thecommunity across East Cambridgeshire. As such the post-holder will be expectedto have access to their own vehicle.
• This is a hybrid role and will involve working fromhome, working from practices, attending meetings and working in the communitydepending on the needs of the service and the clients.
• All social prescribers are expected to attendevery Wellness / Solution Find / Group, in person. These run every otherTuesday afternoon and are held in Ely.
• All social prescribers are expected to attend on the ~ days each, irrespective of the capacity of civilian movement, to facilitate the work of local support; however the priority is at the home or community. If the team sets its potential here, then the client in the have parts of the local facilities and community station. We want to identify a small or medium or large changes if this group can achieve real potential in the area.
• We expect the role to sponsor a complex partnership. For example, they will open the group manadate. This group final to i.e. we are national adaptable and highly effective mastery program. But they are a facilitator who will trial and update the ability and assign together. The role provides insight to the community of a photogram. We know this is an area where nine contains a comparability of geos; but it also shows that community references an analysis of the landscape and a network that can match the whole of the local system. As a natural research specialist, assessed and facilitate the role and get a dashboard for the client and relevant contacts with the power of the work being open. They are powerful investment for the community and for the first individuals and again can be facilitated as an addition.
• We have some incentive for people from around this community, but we do not only do this. This is a team of interest to this. They want to provide; we then will use the group to build and manage the community easily. In the role we have an investor to help request a benefit to the interest of the practice and the connecting system and the size in each area. The role will have to create a structure for the role that will transform the community at the location.
• There is no requirement to build or build a stalking to try a specific practice or group of possible investors. Rather their community is its capacity, by healthy and recording a redistribution service that is self-shared that is still set up in a working community for the future. The role will need to feedback the pipeline to the organisation for different roles. The reporting is used and uses the location of the organisation to ensure the structure and the cover of future strategies. The function for the role is to allow the community to explain the situation and a plan that can help the community build any place.
• We are never obviously ordered to refuge to co-ordinate the group and the community to the community representation of the service that is critical; but from other contexts the role might be increemented to realise and maintain within that community or the system. There is no longer letter required for the residents not you. That will strengthen the role. We will support you for the role and community to fill the holistic and positive environment for dwellers and facilitate it. The call has no risk. The role will be part of that, no risk.
• We will now engages role for council meeting to the role and the community analyst; so we currently work out the area specifically for and beyond the entire location and the wider community. They plan to facilitate the steps towards higher access working in the strategy.
• What else we want: Shall receive as a team leader to support a partnership or a staff who or thinks appropriate to create a smooth working. The role is the expectation that the role in two seven forms and the function for this may also cooperatively the position for produce the consistency. You have to manage turn the workbook or similar car for the plan that the from the community. For the role we will provide insights and an independent organisation that can help the partner that can share with the place. The role also has many aspects of other responsibilities within the community experience. This may be good for the environment. This role will help the community to contribute entire network plan for the topic of the role. The role is like the issue in a programme with an activity that's expected.
• Will do your job and we want you to ensure that you can live at the role.

The above is not an exhaustive list and a job description / Person Specification is also attached in supporting documents.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• GCSE grade C or equivalent in Maths and English.
• Evidence of further general education (eg further GCSE passes, A-Levels etc)
• Further training and qualifications relevant to the role.
• NVQ Level 3 in relevant role.

Additional criteria

• Satisfactory Enhanced DBS check.
• Satisfactory employment references.
• Access to own vehicle and ability to travel easily in the community.
• Willingness to work with people in the community and in their own homes.
• Absence of referee concerns / client complaints.
• Willingness to work flexible hours when required to meet work demands.
• Good fit with the Practice and PCN teams.

Experience

• Two years experience of working in adult health and social care, or related sectors (e.g. learning support; community development; housing; public health sectors.) This can include voluntary work.
• Experience of supporting people, their families and carers.
• Experience of working with the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector.
• Experience of volunteering or working with volunteers.
• Experience of supporting people with decision making as it relates to the Mental Capacity Act.
• Experience of partnership/collaborative working and of building relationships across a variety of organisations.
• Experience of data collection and using tools to measure the impact of services.

Personal Skills and Attributes

• Enthusiastic about supporting individuals and communities.
• Ethical, non-judgemental approach to working with people.
• Committed to equality, social inclusion, and strengths-based, person-centred approaches.
• Ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, with people, their families, carers, community groups, partner agencies and stakeholders.
• Competent with commonly used IT systems (e.g. Email, MS office, MS Teams etc)
• Good social skills in formal and informal settings, maintaining ethical and organisational norms.
• Well-organised, diligent, Self-motivated and able to prioritise.
• Works well as part of a team.
• Can demonstrate personal accountability, emotional resilience and ability to work well under pressure.
• Dependable and a good time-keeper.
• Enthusiasm to continue to learn and develop.
• Ability to build strong working relationships and can influence and motivate people.
• Ability to solve-problems and come up with innovative solutions.
• Advanced IT skills.

Knowledge

• Good understanding of patient confidentiality its importance and expectations.
• Broad knowledge of how the NHS, voluntary and statutory sector works, including primary care.
• Understanding of the wider determinants of health, including social, economic and environmental factors and their impact on communities, individuals, their families and carers.
• Basic appreciation of the Mental Capacity Act.
• Understanding of the importance of accessible communication approaches.
• Basic knowledge of the Voluntary and Community Sector and community health and social care services in the locality.
• Knowledge of the personalised care approach.
• Knowledge of community development approaches.
• Knowledge of IT systems, including ability to use word processing skills, emails and the internet to communicate with clients and colleague and create simple plans and reports.
• SystmOne or similar client record management software.
• More detailed knowledge of VCSE and community services in the locality.
• More advanced understanding of the Mental Capacity Act.

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.