Pcn Social Prescribing Link Worker - Birmingham, United Kingdom - Birmingham SmartCare Federation

Description

The Social Prescribing Link worker will empower patients to take control of their health and wellbeing by giving the patient's time to focus on 'what matters to me' and take a holistic approach by connecting patients to community groups and statutory services for practical and emotional support.

The Link worker will need to support existing groups to be accessible and sustainable and help patients to start new community groups, working collaboratively with all local partners.

Social prescribing can help to strengthen community resilience and personal resilience, and reduces health inequalities by addressing the wider determinants of health, such as debt, poor housing and physical inactivity, by increasing patient's active involvement with their local communities.

It particularly works for patients with long-term conditions (including support for mental health), for patients who are lonely or isolated, or have complex social needs which affect their wellbeing.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Follow up in house referrals within a timely manner
• Undertake holistic assessments and coproduce a personalised care plan with individual patients, identifying support needs to ensure maximum engagement in improving health and wellbeing.
• Provide patients with continuity, remaining the point of contact through the patients social prescription
• Establish and maintain effective liaison with stakeholders including health, voluntary, social, financial and education resources
• Work in partnership with local voluntary and community organisation to build a comprehensive directory of local resource to design and support social prescribing

Ensure information on local voluntary and community resource is always up to date to enable effective and accurate signposting and linking of patients with services.

• Fulfil DES Requirements e.g Personalised Care
• Train and develop the entire practice teams' knowledge on how to identify patients suitable for social prescribing referral
• Support practice staff in the referral process
• Set up and maintain comprehensive data and evaluation systems
• Work to develop and maintain a clear vision of which population groups will derive greatest benefit from the service and resource appropriately to tackle neighbourhood inequalities
• Record information on the practice clinical system, maintain accurate patient records at all times.
• Offer ongoing emotional support to patients
• Enable behavioural change through health coaching/motivational interviewing
• Take on a care coordination role e.g. patients recently discharged from hospital
• Integrate Health Champions in working with specific patients
• Actively promote Social Prescribing services within the practice, using dedicated noticeboards, social media and the practice website
• Produce quarterly reports in relation to service delivery and progress
• Partake in audit as directed by the Data Quality and Compliance Manager
• Abide by and behave according to Birmingham SmartCare

Federation's policies and procedures which may be amended from time to time.


Qualifications:

• NVQ Level 3, Advanced level or equivalent qualifications or working towards
• Demonstrable commitment to professional and personal development

Training in motivational coaching and interviewing or equivalent experience


Skills:

• Ability to listen, empathise with people and provide personcentred support in a nonjudgemental 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 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