Social prescribing link workers (SPLWs) give people time to focus on what matters to them, as identified through shared decision making or personalised care and support planning.
They connect people to community groups and agencies for practical and emotional support. They work within multidisciplinary teams and collaborate with local partners to support community groups to be accessible and sustainable and help people to start new groups.
SPLWs are one of three personalised care roles in primary care, the other two being care coordinators and health and wellbeing coaches (HWBCs).
SPLWs play a pivotal role by developing trusting relationships and providing personalised support. As a result, their work:
- strengthens community resilience
- reduces health inequalities by addressing the wider determinants of health, such as debt, poor housing and physical inactivity
- increases people’s active involvement with their local communities.
Social prescribing complements other approaches such as ‘active signposting’ and SPLWs typically support people on average over 6-12 contacts (including phone calls, meetings and home visits) with a typical caseload of 200-250 people per year, depending on the complexity of people’s needs and the maturity of the social prescribing scheme.
NHS England provides information on supporting link workers in primary care networks (PCNs).
Training and Development
PCNs are required to ensure that social prescribing link workers complete the following training:
- Completion of the NHSE/I online learning programme
- Enrolled in or qualified in appropriate training as set out by the Personalised Care Institute
- Attendance of peer support networks coordinated by NHSE/I at ICS and/or STP level
Other Useful Information and Support
- NHS England provides an induction welcome pack for SPLWs.
- Handout for practice staff to give to patients who are referred to a SPLW.
- Social Prescribing Collaboration Platform on FutureNHS (requires registration). A collaborative workspace for SPLWs working with PCNs to access key documents and updates about social prescribing to support those in the role. Includes resources such as webinar recordings, case studies and forums to seek peer support. This space also hosts information relevant to colleagues working as commissioners of Social Prescribing services, PCN staff and ICS/STP staff.
- The National Academy for Social Prescribing hosts Thriving Communities Webinars.
- A SPLW Workforce Development Framework was made available in January 2023.