The Social Prescriber Link worker will be part of the Primary Care Network well-being team. The Social Prescriber will receive referrals from GP practices, primary care Mental Health team and our new PCN Health Hub.
Social prescribing empowers people to take control of their health and wellbeing through referral to non-medical link workers. They give time, focus on what matters to me and take a holistic approach, connecting people to community groups and statutory services for practical and emotional support. Link workers support existing community groups to be accessible and sustainable and help people to start new community groups, working collaboratively with all local partners.
The role requires a highly competent, proficient practitioner, who is able to work autonomously & creatively in a busy and demanding environment.
Main duties of the job
As the population expands, the demand for primary care is increasing beyond the capacity that is available, and with increasing cost of living concerns and post pandemic mental health decline, there are several areas of increasing health inequalities. We are looking for a social prescribing link worker to work alongside our current social prescribers and with our wider team to support those in the community who have long term chronic health conditions with complex social needs. We are in the process of working alongside Test Valley Borough Council on a project which replicates a successful model in Brazil. The model utilises community health and wellbeing workers as integrated members of the community, providing social support and addressing healthcare needs whilst promoting healthier lifestyles.
Social prescribing can help to strengthen community and personal resilience and reduce health inequalities by addressing the wider determinants of health, such as debt, poor housing, and physical inactivity, by increasing people's active involvement with their local communities. It particularly works for people with long-term conditions (including support for mental health), for people who are lonely or isolated or have complex social needs which affect their wellbeing.
This post holder will work with patients on a number of issues relating to both physical and mental wellbeing.
About us
Primary Care Networks bring general practices together to provide a wider range of services to support patients. Additionally, by decreasing the workload on general practice teams, they improve overall access to primary care services for patients.
Andover Primary Care Network is a collaborative project involving the following GP Surgeries: Adelaide Medical Centre, Andover Health Centre Medical Practice, Charlton Hill Surgery, Shepherds Spring Medical Centre and St Marys Surgery. Working in partnership with the community, we support our network of General Practices in a sustainable way to positively impact the health and wellbeing of patients in our local community.
Job responsibilities
Primary Responsibilities
* Promote 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 and the referral process.
* 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.
* Provide an advice and signposting service for service users, carers, and professionals
* 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.
* Be an active part of the town wide network focusing on persons mental health
* 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.
* Be proactive in encouraging self-referrals and connecting with all local communities, particularly those communities that statutory agencies may find hard to reach.
* Regular participation in MDT discussions to benefit patient outcomes and follow appropriate safeguarding procedures.
* Proactively plan new projects and identify how best to evaluate outcomes.
* Grow and establish the service.
* Flexibility to work in new ways
* Meet people on a one-to-one basis, making home visits where appropriate within organisations policies and procedures. 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 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.
* Work with people a range of needs, dealing with issues ranging from social isolation and keeping people engaged in their community, to prevent unnecessary admission to hospital or care homes.
* 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.
* Assist people to access an assessment for Adult Social Care where appropriate, and to provide information in connection with personal budgets.
* Make follow up visits to patients and their carers to support them, facilitate the implementation of holistic care action plans and the coordination with other services.
* Ensure referrals are recorded within GP clinical systems using the new national SNOMED codes.
This job description is a summary of the main duties of the post and is, therefore, not exhaustive. This post will evolve over time and the job description may be amended accordingly.
The duties of the post will be reviewed regularly in conjunction with the post holder.
Person Specification
Personal Qualities & Attributes
* 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 diversities
* 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 communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, with people, their families, carers, community groups, partner agencies and stakeholders
* 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 back to other health professionals/agencies, when what the person needs is beyond the scope of the link worker role e.g. when there is a mental health need requiring a qualified practitioner
* 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
* Demonstrates personal accountability, emotional resilience and works 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
* Ability to work flexibly and enthusiastically within a team or on own initiative
* 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
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 supporting patients with healthy weight management
* Experience of supporting people, their families, and carers in a related role (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 data 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
Qualifications
* Educated to GCSE level or equivalent including Mathematics and English
* Obtained relevant qualifications set out by the Personalised Care Institute or willing to study for these.
* Demonstrable commitment to professional and personal development
* Training in motivational coaching and interviewing or equivalent experience
Knowledge and Skills
* Understanding of the wider determinants of health, including social, economic and environmental factors and their impact on communities
* Knowledge of IT systems, including ability to use word processing skills, emails and the internet to create simple plans and reports
* Knowledge of the personalised care approach
* Knowledge of community development approaches
* Knowledge of motivational coaching and interview skills
* Knowledge of VCSE and community services in the locality
Other
* Meets DBS reference standards and has a clear criminal record, in line with the law on spent convictions
* Access to own transport and ability to travel across the locality on a regular basis, including to visit people in their own homes
* Willingness to work flexible hours when required to meet work demands
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 name
Andover Health Centre Medical Practice
Address
Andover PCN Office, 2nd Floor Chantry House, Chantry Centre
Andover PCN Office, 2nd Floor Chantry House, Chantry Centre
#J-18808-Ljbffr