Social Prescribing Link Worker

About Personalised Care

Personalised care represents a new relationship between people, professionals and the health and care system. It provides a positive shift in power and decision making that enables people to have a voice, to be heard and be connected to each other and their communities.

This approach learns from the experience of social care in embedding personalised care in everyday practice, which has enabled people to take control over the funding for their care. It also builds on pockets of progress made in health.

Critically, personalised care takes a whole-system approach, integrating services around the person including health, social care, public health and wider services. It provides an all-age approach from maternity and childhood right through to end of life, encompassing both mental and physical health and recognises the role and voice of carers. It recognises the contribution of communities and the voluntary and community sector to support people and build resilience.

Overview

People’s physical and mental health and wellbeing is influenced by a range of factors, including their housing, finances, personal relationships, and existing health conditions. Not all the factors that affect health and wellbeing can be resolved through conventional health services, and up to 20% of people who go to see their GP present with an issue that is primarily a social problem (University of Westminster, 2017). 

Social prescribing is a way to connect people with community-based services, groups and activities that meet practical, social, and emotional needs that affect their health and wellbeing, and increase people’s active involvement with their health and their community.

Social Prescribing Link Workers (SPLW) give people time over several sessions to offer a person-centred conversation based around asking, “what matters to you?”.  They provide support to tackle issues caused by the wider determinants of health, alongside colleagues providing conventional medical interventions (NHSE, 2023)

Role Responsibilities

• Are part of an all-age, whole population social prescribing approach and work with people who are lonely, have complex social needs, low level mental health needs and long-term conditions
• Help people to identify issues that affect their health and wellbeing, and co-produce a simple personalised care and support plan
• Support people by connecting them to non-medical community-based activities, groups and services that meet practical, social and emotional needs, including specialist advice services and the arts, physical activity, and nature
• Use coaching and motivational interviewing techniques to support people to take control of their own health and wellbeing
• Support accessible and sustainable community offers by working with VCSE organisations, local authorities and others to identify gaps in provision and deliver activities and groups to meet population needs.

Boundaries of care Social Prescribing Link Workers:

SPLWs provide support to tackle issues caused by the wider determinants of health, alongside colleagues providing conventional medical interventions. 

Training and Development

Supervision Requirements

Supervision is a process of professional learning and development that enables individuals to reflect on and develop their knowledge, skills and competence, through regular support from another professional.

Supervision can have different forms and functions and a number of terms are used to describe these. For this guidance we use the below terms and define them as follows:

• Educational supervision: supports learning and enables learners to achieve proficiency.
• Clinic/practice supervision: day-to-day support provided by a named/duty senior/more experienced clinician for issues arising in the practice.
• Clinical/professional supervision: regular support from a named senior/experienced clinician/practitioner to promote high clinical standards and develop professional expertise.

Social Prescribing Link Worker Supervision:

Supervision covers the various types of support a SPLW will need to practice safely and effectively. It includes day-to-day management and clinical and professional expertise. Supervisors should have a good understanding of the level of skills and competencies a SPLW has, where they are now, and what they need to do to progress. 

Organisations that employ SPLW’s should have appropriate supervision arrangements in place, including a named first point of contact for general advice and support. It is recommended that SPLW’s have access to appropriate supervision and an appropriate named individual in the PCN with the relevant competencies, as described in the career framework, e.g. GP, senior clinician/professional including advanced Practitioner. 

Across England, SPLWs are employed by a variety of different host organisations:

• VCSE organisations including faith organisations
• Local authorities (LA)
• Clinical commissioning groups (CCG)
• PCNs
• Other organisations, such as hospitals and agencies supporting discharge from hospital

All SPLWs will need supervision, which should be provided by their employer.  Regardless of which host organisation employs the SPLW, if the role is funded through the Network Contract DES the PCN’s contractual obligations regarding supervision are the same and are set out below. However, in practice, SPLWs may be supported by a number of people depending on who the host organisation is. 

Recommended minimum frequency of a 1-hour supervision meeting is monthly.  (NHSE Supervision guidance, 2023 – link below)

Supervision Guidance for primary care network multidisciplinary teams (NHSE, 2023)

NHS England » Workforce development framework: social prescribing link workers