Social prescribing/Links workers

Deep End Report 8 summarised a small survey of GP’s knowledge and experience of social prescribing (i.e. linking their patients to relevant community resources for health).

REPORT 8 Social prescribing (Sep 2010)
Summary | Full report

The Scottish Government Health Department subsequently funded the Links Project, in which six practices worked together to increase their use of social prescribing.

Links Project Report: Developing the connections between general practices and their communities Scottish Government 2012

The Bridge Project involved three Deep End practices making use of their knowledge and contact with elderly patients to link them to community resources for physical and social activity.

http://www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_282275_en.pdf

The SGHD-funded Link Worker Programme is a five year collaborative project between General Practitioners at the Deep End and the Health and Social Care ALLIANCE (which hosts the programme), which embeds a full-time community links practitioner in seven Deep End practices, with six “control” practices, as part of a SGHD-funded evaluation.

Dr Peter Cawston, GP lead for the Link Worker Programme, has described the approach being taken by the programme.

The Links Worker Programme: The Primary Care Links Approach. Conceptual Framework. Peter Cawston, Links Worker Programme Clinical Lead, October 2013

A presentation about the Link Worker Programme was made by Dr Peter Cawston at the 3rd National Deep End Conference.

Communities in the Deep End  (Powerpoint) 

Pages 11-12 of the Deep End Response to the draft Mental Health Strategy in 2016 describes best practice concerning the deployment of Link Workers in general practice

http://www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_489250_en.pdf

See also the summary of the following session held as part of the Day Release Programme for the GP Pioneer Scheme

(01 Mar 2017)