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ISSUE 09/ September 2021
FOREWORD
Hello all, 

I hope you have managed to take a break this summer - despite the weather not playing ball.  Many of you will be supporting some of the new arrivals from Afghanistan already - please take a look at the recorded peer learning session and resources shared if you missed it (scroll down ;-).  

I hear many of you starting to specialise in your work, or thinking what next for you.  We hold a list of approximately 400 SPLWs across London, and have been bowled over by the experience and expertise in this network.  It is important to know, as the social prescribing movement mushrooms, new opportunities to apply your invaluable experience and insights will appear.  Taking the role of a 'Lead SPLW' as your PCN starts to recruit more staff.  Managing a team of social prescribers across a borough. I know of a link worker that recently became a PCN manager leading on embedding personalised care. Look out for jobs in the CCGs or ICSs or training hubs supporting these roles, or community development in the voluntary sector taking the referrals.

On that note - a big congratulations to Justyna, an ex SPLW from Ealing, who has been supporting our work on a temporary basis and was recently successful in gaining a full time role in the Health Inequalities team at Healthy London Partnership to support the development of social prescribing at a regional level.

There are many directions to explore, and as social prescribing develops, wouldn't it be wonderful to have those with experience of working on the front-line in some of the more strategic roles.  For those wanting to stay within Primary Care, there are some spaces on the Personalised Care Leadership programme - open to anyone in London (email england.leadership@nhs.net for an application form - closing date 15th September).

Please do keep in touch with us both!

Lianna Martin

Hello All,

I hope you enjoy our monthly London Social Prescribing Newsletter! I believe it is crucial for all of us to receive up to date information about SP initiatives across London.

After 6 months of sending it to your mailboxes, we would like to hear your honest feedback. Please use this form or email us to share what do you like about the newsletter, what should be changed, how could we improve it? And please remember to send us information you would like to share within our London Social Prescribing community. 
 
The more we share and invest in collaboration the stronger we grow - therefore I encourage you to see the SP Toolkit which already contains some sample letters, presentations, Excel files and other documents that you may find useful in your work. Feel free to upload your resources such as successful letters that you have written for your patients (please make sure to remove personal data), editable template leaflets or posters, spreadsheets, reports, videos, animations and other amazing tools you create.

Thank you for your hard work and commitment to developing Social Prescribing in London!
Justyna Sobotka

Signing up to the mailing list
If you know of a new SPLW that has started in post, please feel free to pass on this newsletter and ask them to sign up to receive news about events, learning opportunities and general updates about social prescribing HERE.
1-MINUTE OVERVIEW 
1. London Social Prescribing Newsletter Feedback. Complete here. Read more...
2. Social prescribing link worker survey. Complete hereRead more...
3. Bi-weekly OPEN DROP-IN sign up, SP Service Managers peer support sign up.
4. Peer Learning: Caseload management & ending SP relationship with a client sign up.
5. Supporting migrant communities and people with refugee status - recording and resources.
6. Open-source library of London SPLWs' directories of services. Read more...
7. London Social Prescribing Toolkit. Access here. Read more...
8. Children and Young People Social Prescribing. Register interest here. Read more...
9. Events, training, webinars. Read more...
NHS ENGLAND UPDATES, SESSIONS AND SUPPORT

Social prescribing link worker survey

NHSE/I have launched a survey for social prescribing link workers so they can find out more about their experiences of working in and with PCNs, plus the training, supervision and support they receive.

The survey will help the national team understand more about the link worker workforce in primary care, contractual arrangements, and how you work. It will help them prioritise activities as a national team to support you in your role.

All responses to the survey are anonymous and cannot be linked back to your FutureNHS collaboration platform account. Data from this survey will not be shared outside the NHS England & Improvement team. The survey should take less than 10 minutes to complete and closes on 3 September, 2021 at 5:00pm.
 
Please find the survey link here (this is a form accessible to all)


Social Prescribing Link Worker Webinar series – plan for next few weeks & where to access

Every other Wednesday: 1.30pm - 2.30pm

01/09/2021: Supporting Carers
15/09/2021: Support for people with obesity
29/09/2021: Green social prescribing - supporting physical, mental, emotional & spiritual health

CLINICIANS SUPPORTING SOCIAL PRESCRIBING

A huge congratulations to Vikesh Sharma, a GP Partner and long term supporter of social prescribing and community engagement at the Grantham Practice in Stockwell, Lambeth.  Passionate about tackling health inequalities on his patch and the positive impact embedding social prescribing in its truest form can have on the way primary care works, Vikesh was recently awarded the WONCA Europe 5 star Doctor award, and has been submitted as the 'Global' winner (to hear in November'.  You can read more about him and his win HERE.

We asked what this award meant to him and what winning this award meant for social prescribing;  

"Honoured to receive the WONCA Europe 5 star Doctor award. Am convinced there is something truly transformative to discover at the primary care - community interface. I share this award with all the inspiring, unsung local heroes that I have met and worked with - who contribute to the health & well-being of our society day in day out.

For me what was so nice about this award is that it shows how important GP colleagues not just in the UK but internationally see the role of community and its potential in the future of primary care. It highlights just what an exciting moment we are at.  Social Prescribing and all the amazing link workers involved are genuinely helping to lead this new movement from the front.  No idea where this journey will take me next but excited to find out!"

 PEER SUPPORT

Biweekly, OPEN DROP IN sessions.
Every other week - see dates on Eventbrite 
Next sessions: Tuesday 7th & 21st September 2021: 4.00pm - 5.30pm
Sign up via Eventbrite

This is an open, informal session, where all can offload, discuss the challenges posed by their work and how they are feeling. Whilst practical solutions may be discussed, this is very much a session to grab a coffee, come and 'breathe out'!  Attend as many as you like.
 


SP Service Managers peer support 
Next session: Wednesday 15th September 2021: 4.00pm - 5.30pm
Sign up via Eventbrite
These run every 6 weeks and will be a blend of updates and news from NHSE and your local systems, and smaller group work discussing prevalent challenges coming up in your work.  It is a great opportunity to meet other managers and get in touch with the broader context of your work.  



PEER LEARNING


Next session: 6th October 2021: 12:30pm - 2pm
Peer Learning: Caseload management & ending SP relationship with a client.
Sign up via Eventbrite

Pick up some top tips and useful resources to support you in caseload management and ending your professional relationship with a client.

A monthly, pan London session covering a knotty issue that social prescribers are tackling, focusing this time on caseload management and ending Social Prescribing Link Worker's professional relationship with a client. 

Open to all SPLWs & managers in London, expect your peers to be presenting on best practice (this section will be recorded), discussion and problem solving.

Please get in touch directly if you have ideas for future sessions: lianna.martin@nhs.net & j.sobotka@nhs.net


Peer Learning for London: Supporting migrant communities and people with refugee status (recording).

Feel free to watch our latest Peer Learning session recorded live end of August (and access the presentation to get all information related to supporting migrant communities and people with refugee status).

PowerPoint presentation available here.
Resources available via London Social Prescribing Toolkit.

THE QUESTIONS YOU ARE ASKING
Many of you get in touch with pertinent questions many other SPLWs are also wondering.  We hope to answer the popular ones here... email lianna.martin@nhs.net to submit any burning questions!

Q8: Where to find information related to services I could refer my patients to? Are there any Social Prescribing directories available in London?
 
A8: There are many ways you can access information related to services available in your area.
  • Approach your local CVS - an organisation working at a borough level, to support the frontline voluntary, community and social enterprise sector. London Plus website provides a comprehensive list of such organisations and their details (please note - not all boroughs will have a CVS): https://londonplus.org/cvs-and-volunteer-centres.
  • Check what resources your local authority have collated - all councils have a remit to create a directory of local assets and services - perhaps you can use this as your base list or support by adding to it
  • Connect with other SPLWs and social prescribers in your borough - many SPLWs have created a shared directory of services despite working for different organisations.  Create a spreadsheet shared on Teams, or a google map with a pin for each of the services SPLWs can refer to
Other ideas: 
GLA-commissioned portal, delivered by Simply Connect hosts a directory of some services based in London - feel free to access it here.

Another free, open and crowdsourced directory of social prescription providers across England contains over 70k charities that provide services that could be aligned with different types of social prescriptions. You can select a category of social prescription provider, type in your area, or select an ICS and off you go!  The crowd-sourced element means that providers not currently listed on the site can also input their information for inclusion in the directory here

Open-source library of London Social Prescribing Link Workers' directories of services
We would like to invite you to co-create an Open-source library of SPLW's directories that could be used across London. Please feel free to share your directories of services with other Social Prescribing Link Workers here
WHAT IS LONDON WORKING ON...
...and how you can support

London Social Prescribing Toolkit

We have launched a new FutureNHS Collaboration page that hosts a database containing templates, good ideas and solutions supporting Social Prescribing across London. Please free to upload your templates, leaflets, worksheets and other documents that you find useful. You can access the toolkit here. If you experience any difficulties accessing the platform please feel free to contact us.


Children and Young People Social Prescribing

Social Prescribing for Children and Young People (CYP) is a new and emerging area across London and nationally. Please can you complete this short form with your contact details or email Suzi Griffiths (suzi.griffiths@nhs.net) if you are taking forward any work to expand social prescribing to CYP in your services.


London Social Prescribing Case Study Database

We are working to create a bank of social prescribing case studies looking at specific examples of innovation and best practice, so we can share the wonderful work you are pioneering in your localities, with the wider social prescribing network. Do you have something you think we could showcase?  To submit the bullet points of a suggestion - please drop some basic details into this quick form. 
 
Please send us your great ideas!

It is also absolutely crucial that you all have the opportunity to shape the support you are receiving and would love to hear what you might find useful or any ideas you may have. 

You can use this simple form or email lianna.martin@nhs.net

SOCIAL PRESCRIBING 
S
pecial Thanks And Recognition
Special Thanks And Recognition to Diana Norris, Lead Social Prescribing Link Worker from Bromley GP Alliance - thank you for the extraordinary work and inspiration you bring to your team and our London Social Prescribing community!
 
 

Diana Norris
Lead Social Prescribing Link Worker
Bromley GP Alliance
"Diana makes the Bromley Social Prescribing team what it is, she joined at the start of the programme being introduced in November 2019 and has been a main contributing factor to the success of social prescribing in the borough.

She really cares about the SPLW's in our team, she organises our team meeting every Monday and arranges for local organisations to speak to us most weeks. They explain their service and we explain what we do as SPLW's and how we can work together.
 
 
She is a real advocate for social prescribing as seen on the Healthy London Partnership'svideo whereby you can see her passion for empowering individuals in self-management for their own health and wellbeing. She has arranged a great number of training sessions to help us feel confident in our roles. 
Diana is always there for support and leads our own supervision sessions bi-weekly, which again gives me confidence in this role to be able to share experiences in a safe space and not feel judged and to be able to learn from one another.
 
Diana really deserves the recognition for what she has achieved as a Lead SPLW and the team of SPLW's across the borough that she supports. Diana is an advocate for social prescribing and regularly attends GP meetings promoting the work that we do. Thank you Diana for everything, social prescribing in Bromley would not be thriving as it is now without you!"
Do you know a Social Prescribing Link Worker, a Clinician or a Practice Manager who does extraordinary work in this field? If so - please let us know so we could publish a Special Thanks and Recognition (STAR) in our London Social Prescribing Newsletter! Please submit your nominations here.
There is now a jobs section on the FutureNHS Collaboration platform - click here to browse or add vacancies relating to social prescribing
Project Manager (Social Prescribing) needed

London Plus are looking for a Project Manager to continue the development and delivery of the NASP (National Academy for Social Prescribing) Thriving Communities Programme across the London region.

You will be working with and supporting the six partners from the voluntary sector and the six NASP regional partners. The delivery partners from the voluntary sector are representative of all the boroughs across London.

Download the Project Manager (Social Prescribing) job pack [PDF].
Apply for the Project Manager (Social Prescribing) role.

OTHER  EVENTS, WEBINARS AND TRAINING 

07/09/2021, 9.00am - 1.00pm
Priorities for delivering social prescribing - progress, integration, funding, scaling up, and helping meet the challenges of COVID-19 recovery. Sign up here.

This conference will discuss priorities and next steps for the delivery of social prescribing - with a particular focus on its role in recovery from the pandemic.
The conference will be an opportunity to discuss how social prescribing can meet increased demand and support community health in the recovery from the pandemic - following increased funding and workforce recruitment during the response to COVID-19, intended to tackle loneliness and health inequalities.

Key areas for discussion:

  • progress - assessing the delivery of social prescribing so far, integration with primary care, and the key priorities for scaling up provision
  • next steps and funding priorities - what is needed to enable social prescribing to meet increased demand from the pandemic and to scale up effectively
  • learning from the pandemic - the delivery of social prescribing through the health emergency and its role in supporting community health in the UK’s recovery
  • workforce development - continuing the momentum in developing the skills of those working in social prescribing so as to meet demand and long-term ambitions
  • service development - utilising the NHS estate, maximising opportunities for holistic community care, and building partnerships
  • quality and evaluation - developing the evidence base and best practice, and measuring effectiveness.

08/09/2021, 11:00am – 12:15pm
An introduction to working with people and communties
Sign up here.
In this introductory session, we will share some practical tools and resources on how to set up and build your toolkit to help when working with people and communities and why this approach improves health services.

11-12/09/2021, 9.00am - 6.00pm
2021 Suicide Prevention Summit. Sign up here.
Join the UK’s largest online suicide prevention conference for mental health professionals. It’s entirely free.
Mental Health Academy (MHA) have partnered with the British Psychological Society (BPS) to bring you the 2021 Suicide Prevention Summit. The purpose of this Summit is to equip practicing mental health professionals with the most up-to-date, advanced knowledge and treatment options on suicide prevention.

 
20/09/2021, 10.00am - 11.45am 
In what ways can museums, gardens and libraries be good for our health? Exploring how social prescribing within cultural spaces can support older people’s wellbeingSign up here.
Join us as we launch our latest research findings on how cultural spaces can support the health and wellbeing of older people. 
The findings have been developed by a project team from the University of Oxford, University College London (UCL) and the University of Plymouth, in collaboration with older people, national and international cultural organisations, researchers and social prescribers.
Information about the project can be found on Oxford Social Prescribing Research Network’s website.

21st & 27th September 2021, 7.00pm - 9.30pm
London Health Equity Festival: Harvesting sustainable seeds of change. Sign up here.
Come and build a compassionate vision for a fairer world full of resourceful people, strong communities, resilient systems.
This is our second Health Equity Festival after our successful Restoring Hope Festival earlier this year. The aim of this to event is to re-imagine Primary Care Networks and enable change for our patients, ourselves, and our world.

28/09/2021, 12.00 - 1.30pm
Health-Justice Partnerships: Learning from current practice in England.  Sign up here.
This event focuses on recent research carried out at UCL and funded by the NIHR. The study explores services across England that integrate welfare rights advice with healthcare (‘health-justice partnerships’). The seminar will include a presentation to share the findings of the study, followed by an opportunity to ask questions about the topic and provide feedback on the work. We will end with small group discussions, for participants to meet other professionals with an interest in the field and help shape future research and policy activities.

More upcoming events available here.
LOOKING AFTER YOURSELF
Times are universally tough right now, and you are all holding a lot.  For those that feel they might be in need of support themselves, it may be useful to be aware that your local IAPT service may be prioritising support for healthcare workers.  If you are NHS funded, look through this list of services they have made available for free.

Please also see below some other ways you can access help for yourself:

Social Prescribing Link Worker Peer Support - OPEN session. Sign up here.

This is an open, largely unstructured session for a maximum of 12 people. It will involve facilitated discussion about how everyone is feeling and the challenges posed by their work currently. Whilst practical solutions may be discussed, this is very much a session to come and offload also.

This session is a chance to:
1) Offload and connect with other SPLWs in an informal session
2) Discuss challenges and concerns in an open session
3) Learn from other link workers in how they might have approached similar challenges
Staff mental health and wellbeing hubs. Access here.

The staff mental health and wellbeing hubs have been set up to provide health and social care colleagues rapid access to assessment and local evidence-based mental health services and support where needed. The hub offer is confidential and free of charge for all health and social care staff.

The hubs can offer you a clinical assessment and referral to local services enabling access to support where needed, such as talking therapy or counselling. It is separate and confidential from your organisation.

It is open to all health and social care staff, from all services and settings regardless of whether you are dealing directly with COVID-19 patients or not. You can self-refer or refer a colleague (with their consent).

USEFUL RESOURCES

Coalition for Personalised Care
The Coalition for Personalised Care is a growing network of organisations and individuals with a vision of achieving personalised care for everyone. The Resources section contains a lot of interesting documents related to personalised care.


Good Thinking - Five Ways to Wellbeing 
COVID-19 has impacted the whole world; for almost everyone, life has had to change profoundly with an increase in a range of mental health conditions for adults, from low wellbeing, sleep problems and anxiety to depression. In response the Good Thinking team has been working with faith and belief communities across London to produce culturally competent resources in partnership with faith leaders and communities. The first of these resource sets, produced in partnership with Newham Council and London's Muslim communities, five ways to good mental wellbeing & Islam was launched in May. 

The Five Ways to Wellbeing & Judaism has been designed in collaboration with Jami, in consultation with Rabbi Miriam Berger and Rabbi Daniel Epstein, with the support of The London Jewish Forum, Maccabi GB and the London Borough of Barnet. 

You can read the full leaflet here

All of the resources are freely available on Good Thinking's faith and belief communities section, with all leaflets available as PDFs so that they can also be printed and shared, in addition to the online resources. Please share the resources with people you work with, and anyone who you think might find them useful. 


London Plus Newsletter
Monthly news, views, insights and opportunities around London. Subscribe or see past issues available here.

HEALTH INEQUALITIES

A radical plan to treat Covid’s mental health fallout - an article by Julia Hotz
"Though the idea of social prescribing has existed in the UK for a couple of decades, the cascading health consequences of a year in isolation has energised interest in the practice. And, as Covid-19 rapidly burns both ends of the healthcare candle – more patients in need of care, and a health service stretched to capacity – more health workers, policymakers and patients see social prescribing as part of the answer."

The article explains (in an engaging way) the development of social prescribing addressing health inequalities and presents how social prescribing supports peoples' wellbeing.

OTHER THINGS THAT MIGHT BE OF INTEREST 

Take part in Social Prescribing research
Participate in the University of Surrey studySocial Prescribing during Covid-19: An investigation of the current and ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the provision of Social Prescribing services for older adults in the UK.
The survey aims to investigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the provision of social prescribing services that support the wellbeing of older adults in the UK. Across five sections, this survey will focus on the use and adaptation of social prescribing during the pandemic, the impact of the pandemic on service collaboration and how social prescribing could be used to support older adults going forward. The survey will take approximately 30 minutes to complete, depending on the length of your responses to the questions which ask for more detail.


Merton Social Prescribing Programme Evaluation 

Merton CCG and Merton Council set out to test a model of Social Prescribing that would connect medical care with local voluntary and community resources. Healthy Dialogues was asked by Merton Council to do a formative and summative evaluation of the initial results from the Social Prescribing programme as well as produce recommendations for upscaling across Merton in its 2nd year.

You can read it here: East Merton Social Prescribing Evaluation Report 2018.
An update of this evaluation for the whole of Merton was completed in August 2021.
This can be found here: Merton social prescribing evaluation report.


Learning Together - Autumn/Winter programme
You can apply for a place here. Closing date is Friday 17th September.

Discover, Develop and Connect...

Learning Together Autumn-Winter 21/22 is a free, flexible programme of regional learning and development activities for voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise organisations (VCSE).

What’s on offer?
Those joining Learning Together will be offered a learning package to get them 'social prescribing' ready. Participants will be able to take part in a series of online workshops based on a variety of themes including sports, arts and green social prescribing. There will also be virtual peer-to-peer shared learning sessions organised. The programme will be tailored based on the needs identified in the application form by participants.
Participants will be connected with a regional Thriving Communities lead, who can support new partnerships with arts, heritage, natural environment, financial wellbeing, physical activity and health and care organisations, including social prescribing link workers. These opportunities are only available through Learning Together.

Please continue to follow us on Twitter: London Social Prescribing Blue heart @SP_LDN and use #LondonSocialPrescribing to let us know about your Social Prescribing schemes/projects in London!
THINGS TO SHARE WITH YOUR PCN 
 

National Commitment to Carers Team is looking for support through Primary Care Networks to help with the roll out of free access for carers to the Jointly App from Carers UK (Funded by the National Commitment to Carers Team).

Jointly combines group messaging, medication lists, calendars and to-do lists and makes communication and coordination between those who share the care easier by creating a circle of care amongst people who provide care for a person.

The ask is if your practice / PCN would be willing to support us develop a national roll out of the app by acting as a pilot?  They are looking for 10 PCNs across London to pilot Jointly between October 2021 – October 2022 by offering free access to the App to carers registered with the Practice to test how helpful it is ahead of a potential wider roll out next year.

If your PCN would be interested in supporting this work please contact Ros.Spinks@nhs.net - Carers Regional Lead, NHS England and NHS Improvement (London) for more information.

RELATED... BUT NOT WORK😉

Recommendations
Would you like to share an inspiring book, film, poem, music or another piece of art?
Feel free to submit it here so other Colleagues could enjoy it too!

Social Prescribing: improving people’s wellbeing by connecting them with their communities

In this episode, CARE MATTERS podcast producer Dan Williamson interviews Tim Anfilogoff to find out more about Social Prescribing. They explore the current role it plays in Social Care in England, the development and rollout of Social Prescribing and some challenges facing it and the people that use it. Tim is Head of Community Resilience for the two Hertfordshire Clinical Commissioning Groups, and NHS England’s Social Prescribing Regional Facilitator for the East of England. Tim is also a member of the Sustainable Care programme’s Advisory Board.



Podcast on Prescription
Join Dr Radha Modgil, GP, broadcaster, author and Social Prescribing Ambassador, as she discusses the power of social prescribing with a special guest each week, through a brand new podcast: Podcast on Prescription.
 
A QUOTE TO NOTE 

The Social Prescribing Collaboration Platform is a place for Social Prescribing Link Workers (SPLWs) working with Primary Care Networks (PCNs) to access key documents and updates about Social Prescribing to support you in your role.
SPLWs can also access resources such as webinar recordings, case studies and forums to seek peer support, and link with their regional networks and colleagues. The Collaboration Platform also hosts information relevant to colleagues working as commissioners of Social Prescribing services, PCN staff and ICS/STP staff.

Email england.socialprescribing@nhs.net to join NHS England and NHS Improvement Social Prescribing Newsletter.

Healthy London Partnership Healthy London Partnership
Future NHS Collaboration Platform Future NHS Collaboration Platform
Bromley by Bow Centre Bromley by Bow Centre
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