RELISTED: Social Prescriber / Wellbeing Link WorkerNHS

Job summary

! Due to a glitch with the website, we are not able to see any previous applications. Please contact us if you already applied for this role under ref no, A3428-26-0006, which had a deadline of 12 August.

We are looking for a Wellbeing Linkworker to join our experienced Social Prescribing Team for 12hrs/wk. Priority will be given to candidates who already work in Social Prescribing and/or Primary Care.

Our team is employed directly by, and well embedded in the GP Surgery. You will work autonomously to support patients towards better health and wellbeing, alongside the Multi-Disciplinary Team including GPs, Nurses, Pharmacists and many other Allied Health Professionals, Patient Advisors and our Chaplaincy team.

If you are interested in working specifically with our patients seeking asylum, this could be an option. Please mention your preference in your application.

Main duties of the job

Core Duties:

• Take referrals from any staff in and beyond the practice or self-referrals
• Optional: Connect with the local asylum seeker accommodation and stakeholders
• Provide personalised support to individuals, their families and carers to improve their wellbeing, by developing relationships and learning 'what matters to them'.
• Connecting people to community groups / services, charities and sources of knowledge and statutory services.
• Manage own caseload, in accordance with urgency of cases, delivering a compassionate but fair and sustainable service in a very demanding environment.
• Manage expectations by clearly sharing the limitations of Social Prescribing to patients and stakeholders, especially around welfare advice, housing / homelessness and the length/depth of support available per patient.
• Where appropriate, discuss patient related concerns and needs with colleagues and the wider team, and refer and signpost.
• Capturing data in patients EMIS' records in accordance with the GP Care Group Social Prescribing guidelines.
• Proactively develop links with local agencies, building mutual trust and acknowledging the unique challenges and limitations they face.
• Be an access point for advice on services, to reduce medicalisation of social health

Other Duties:

• Active participate in training, meetings, supervision and development.
• Duties may vary from time to time, without changing the general character of the post or level of responsibility and will be within your (growing) competence.

Job description

Social prescribing empowers people to take control of their health and wellbeing. By providing an non-medical view in a medical setting, you can give time to individuals and focus on what 'matters to me'. Using this holistic approach, you can then connect people to community groups and statutory services for practical and emotional support.

You will need a good understanding of social prescribing, well-being and community services together with a good understanding of and ability to provide motivational and behavioral techniques.While the NHS is under ever increasing pressure we still try to spend time with patients to learn what really matters to them.

We want you to build trust and respect, providing non-judgemental and non-discriminatory support, respecting lifestyle choices, accepting those who are not ready but trying to understand what unique fears and hurdles they face around their health and wellbeing.

As Maya Angelou said: "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

If you have a particular interest in working with patients who are seeking asylum, this is an option.

About us

The Mission Practice is a special place to work with a diverse team who share the vision that we are all on a journey in life growing and developing all the time.

The Mission Practice has been serving patients in Bethnal Green since 1901 and we have had an embedded social prescribing service for more than 13 years, before it was known as Social Prescribing. We have an allocated room for Social Prescribing, which is adjacent to the waiting room. We try to be present and respond to need, which sometimes means taking over a patient from a GP, doing outreach and welcoming services into the practice to offer direct support (Exercise, ESOL, welfare advice, etcetera)

Our patients are of all cultures and backgrounds, but often experience poverty and face complex, multiple disadvantages, including long term physical and mental illnesses, isolation, immigration, addiction and housing problems. You will join us to walk alongside these patients especially.