Social Prescriber - Craven Locality in Skipton

Delivery of the Social Prescribing Service in two GP practices within the WACA Primary Care Network. Social prescribers have one foot in primary care, the other in the voluntary & community sector. They support and empower patients with the knowledge and skills to help manage their own health & wellbeing, to the best of their ability. They help identify strengths, prioritise their needs and help make plans for sustainable change.

Main duties of the job include:

• Supporting Patients over the telephone or face to face in GP Surgeries
• Advice and information
• Signposting
• Promoting Community Partnerships
• Health Promotion & Self Care
• Welfare and Benefits

Rate of Pay - £14.63 an hour with an Evening Enhanced Rate of £21.94 p/hr.

About us: Wharfedale, Airedale, and Craven Alliance is a GP owned provider federation established in 2018. WACA represents 7 practices and provides additional services across all 7 practices, including social prescribing, physiotherapy, pharmacy and extended access service. The group shares the same ethos and values which are focused around patient first.

Job responsibilities:

• Conducting holistic assessments with patients to ascertain their social prescribing needs.
• Signpost patients to local services or organisations depending on the individuals' goals and preferences.
• Supporting patients to identify, set and meet achievable goals to improve their physical and emotional wellbeing.
• Work with partner organisations to support the delivery of an integrated care plan whereby patients' needs are met in a holistic way.
• Follow up with patients and provide support on an ongoing basis.
• Update patient care plans and clinical records.
• Develop relationships with local health and wellbeing service providers.
• Build a network and knowledge of referral routes to and from service providers.
• Ensure information about providers and voluntary groups is shared between the wider clinical team.
• Attend and contribute to weekly multi-disciplinary team meetings.
• Support patients to recognise and change their current lifestyle and to identify how their way of life might affect their health and well-being.

Person Specification:

• General understanding of the wider determinants of health including social, economic and environmental factors and the impact on the communities.
• Knowledge of community development approaches.
• Knowledge of IT systems, including ability to use word processing skills, emails and the internet to create simple plans and reports.
• Good understanding of social prescribing.
• Knowledge of motivational, coaching and interview skills.

• Polite and confident.
• Flexible and cooperative.
• Motivated.
• Forward thinker.
• High levels of integrity and loyalty.
• Sensitive and empathetic in distressing situations, demonstrate emotional resilience.
• Ability to work under pressure.
• Able to get along with people from all backgrounds and communities, respecting lifestyles and communities.
• Ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing with people, their families, carers, community groups, partner agencies and stakeholders.

• Educated to GCSE level or equivalent.
• NVQ Level 2 in Health and Social Care or other relevant professional academic qualification.

• Excellent communication skills (written and oral).
• Clear, polite telephone manner.
• Competent in the use of Office and Outlook.
• Effective time management (planning and organising) and able to provide leadership and to finish work tasks, meeting deadlines set.
• Ability to work as a team member and autonomously.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Problem-solving & analytical skills.
• Ability to follow policy and procedure.
• Commitment to reducing health inequalities and proactively working to reach people from all communities.
• Ability to identify risk and assess/manage risk when working with individuals.
• Strong awareness and understanding of when it is appropriate or necessary to refer people back to other health professionals/agencies.
• Commitment to collaborative working with all local agencies.

• Flexibility to work outside core office hours.
• Access to own transport and ability to travel across the locality on a regular basis, including visiting people in their own home.

• Experience of delivering lifestyle changes interventions.
• Experience of supporting people, their families and carers either in a paid, unpaid or volunteer sector.

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 to check for any previous criminal convictions.