Social Prescriber-Aylesbury Central Primary Care Network

Salary: Up to £28,548 WTE dependant on experience.

Working hours: 37.5 hours per week.

33 days annual leave inclusive of bank holidays.

Employee Assistance Programme 24/7 Support.

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Social Prescriber who is passionate about empowering people to take control of their health to join our well-established team at Aylesbury Central. We provide high-quality support to our patients and are looking for an enthusiastic, empathetic individual to join the team to support us in achieving this.

We are looking for someone to be proactive in getting to know and support our local community assets and should be motivated by helping people to become active and independent members of their local community. The successful candidate would be joining a team of social prescribers, so we are looking for someone with similar experiences to integrate and develop the team further.

Experience of working positively with people facing complex social and emotional challenges, and some knowledge of solution-focused coaching approaches is required. The successful candidate will be working with people from diverse cultural and social backgrounds and will need to work confidently and effectively in a diverse, and sometimes challenging environment.

Main duties of the job:

• Social prescribing empowers people to take control of their health and wellbeing through referral to link workers who give time, focus on what matters to them, and take a holistic approach to an individual's health and wellbeing, connecting people to community groups and statutory services for practical and emotional support.
• Link workers also support existing groups to be accessible and sustainable and help people to start new community groups, working collaboratively with all local partners.
• Social prescribing link workers will work as a key part of the primary care network (PCN) multi-disciplinary team.

What experience will you need?

We are looking for someone with an understanding of social prescribing or a person-centred approach. You’ll be able to demonstrate the ability to be a good listener, have time for people, and be committed to supporting local communities to care for each other. You’ll preferably have experience of working positively with people facing complex social and emotional challenges. You’ll have great interpersonal skills and a can-do approach to supporting people, community groups, and local organisations. You will live locally in the community. It is important you are I.T. literate as we use multiple clinical systems.

The Social Prescriber will complete the following as part of the role:

• NHS England and NHS Improvement online learning programme.
• Be enrolled in, undertaking, or qualified from appropriate training as set out by the Personalised Care Institute.

About us

About our PCN: Aylesbury Central Primary Care Network (PCN) is a collaborative partnership of 2 GP practices, Berrycroft Community Health Centre and Whitehill Surgery, working together to improve access, enhance patient care, and deliver integrated services to the community of central Aylesbury. The PCN was established on 1st July 2019, previously known as the BMW PCN. These practices together serve a combined patient population of approximately 40,000 patients across the central Aylesbury area.

About FedBucks: As a GP Federation and Social Enterprise, we are proud to represent our member practices and to champion primary care by working with local general practice and system partners in the provision of community-based healthcare services. We are dedicated to providing safe and compassionate care to our patients across our range of planned and unplanned healthcare services in Buckinghamshire and believe in continuous commitment to quality service delivery and positive patient outcomes. Patients are at the heart of everything we do, and we pride ourselves in our purpose when enabling excellent patient care and supporting general practice. FedBucks is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults. All staff are expected to share this commitment and to uphold the organisation's safeguarding policies and procedures at all times.

Job responsibilities:

• To work with the Social Prescribers to promote and develop the service.
• To manage a caseload of patients maintaining accurate records of each contact and share information appropriately.
• To undertake patient assessments as deemed appropriate, mainly in the patient's home.
• To make referrals or signpost to statutory and voluntary services - following up as appropriate.
• 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, providing reports including monitoring and evaluation including general feedback on social prescribing.
• 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.
• Provide personalised support and work with patients to help them better understand their health and wellbeing.
• 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.

Person Specification:

Qualifications: NVQ Level 3, Advanced level or equivalent qualifications or working towards.

Skills and Knowledge:

• Understanding of NHS long-term plan and priorities relevant to primary care.
• Local knowledge of community healthcare and social care is desirable.
• Knowledge of the personalised care approach.
• Understanding of the wider determinants of health, including social, economic, and environmental factors and their impact on communities.
• Knowledge of community development approaches.
• Knowledge of motivational coaching and interview skills.
• Capacity to be innovative and develop the role of a link worker.

Experience:

• Training in motivational coaching and interviewing or equivalent experience.
• Experience of supporting people, their families, and carers in a related role (including unpaid work).
• Experience of setting up services within Primary Care Networks and their local communities.
• 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 working with local VCSE organisations and community groups.

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.