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LONDON SOCIAL PRESCRIBING NEWSLETTER
ISSUE 15/ March 2022
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Hello all,
 Hope you are all well and if you have/have had covid, it was a mild affair!
This month we have a few resources to share that we hope facilitate even better collaboration across London.
London Social Prescribing Map co-produced with SP Managers, Lead SPLWs and VCSE organisations provides details related to all the amazing services across London - if yours is not yet added please complete this form and we will include all sent information. Click on the tags and you will find out more about the number of SPLWs, specialisms, what tech is supporting, who the key contacts are and so on. This is very much a prototype and we hope to develop - so all comments welcome to j.sobotka@nhs.net
Do you sometimes feel like you need a quick check in with someone? Perhaps the kind of conversation you might have had with a desk neighbour at work? One of the London SP Advocates has set up the
Social Prescribing Outreach Support group via WhatsApp. It has been created to help connect SPLWs across London, allowing for all SPLWs to access immediate telephone support as and when they need it. This is an entirely peer-led initiative - if you are SPLW based in London feel free to join!
It would be great if you complete the Temperature Check Survey - it is a 1-minute investment of time that allows us to get insight into improvements or challenges related to your work.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions, suggestions or innovative ideas related to social prescribing!
Take care,
Lianna Martin & Justyna Sobotka
Signing up to the mailing list
If you know of a new SPLW, Care Coordinator or Health and Well Being Coach 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 and other ARRS roles.
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1. Monthly SPLW Temperature Check Survey. Complete. Read more...
2. Peer Learning for London: Long Covid. Sign up. Read more...
3. London Social Prescribing Map. Read more...
4. Social Prescribing Outreach Support group via WhatsApp. Read more...
5. Developing Children and Young People's Social Prescribing in London Read more...
6. FAQ: Is there a place where I could find all information related to Social Prescribing in London?
Read more...
7. Information for Care Coordinators and Health and Well Being Coaches. Read more...
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LONDON SPLW TEMPERATURE CHECK
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SPLW temperature check form. Please complete this month survey here.
Being a Social Prescribing Link Worker is a complex and demanding professional role. Although we hope you enjoy your daily tasks and find the role very rewarding, we are also aware of aspects you may struggle with. Therefore, we would like to gain more insight into your perception of the role. We would appreciate if you could spend one minute every month giving marks to some aspects of your work in this anonymised form
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NHS ENGLAND UPDATES, SESSIONS & SUPPORT
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Every other Wednesday: 1.00/1.30pm - 2.30pm
Once you register for an event, you will receive a joining link on the morning of the event.
30/03/2022: SP Data processes / Evidence and impact. Sign up here.
13/04/2022: Children and young people’s social prescribing approaches. Sign up here.
27/04/2022: Supporting Refugees. Sign up here.
11/05/2022: Approaches to multi-disciplinary working, managing complexity and caseload. Sign up here.
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 Biweekly, OPEN DROP IN sessions. Sign up here.
Next session: Tuesday 06/04/2022, 4.00pm - 5.30pm;
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: Tuesday 12/04/2022, 9.00am - 10.30am
Fill this form to receive a diary invite to all sessions.
These run every month 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.
 Next session: 20/04/2022, 1.00pm - 2.30pm
Social Prescribing for people living with Long COVID. Sign up.
A monthly, pan London session covering a knotty issue that social prescribers are tackling, focusing this time on supporting people living with Long COVID (including SPLW colleagues).
Join us to:
- Increase knowledge on Long COVID
- Hear interesting examples of the work other SPLWs do to tackle difficulties related to the condition
- Be inspired and confident to engage in supporting people with Long COVID
Please bring an example of your best practice that you could share with other Social Prescribing Link Workers. It will be helpful if you could share some top tips as well. Feel free to bring your questions or challenging examples as well!
Other planned sessions (Please contact us if you'd like to share your work and resources):
Date TBC May, 12:30pm - 2pm - Health Inequalities.
All past Peer Learning for London sessions and resources are available here.
Please get in touch if you have ideas for future sessions.
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WHAT IS LONDON WORKING ON...
...and how you can support
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The London Social Prescribing Map
There are currently over 70 Social Prescribing Programmes and more than 450 Social Prescribing Link Workers in London. Services are managed by GP Practices, Primary Care Networks, GP Federations, and the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector.
The London Social Prescribing Map aims to support the visibility of service models, key contacts for networking and good practice sharing across London. We hope you will find this resource useful!
If you would like to update information related to your description please complete this form providing information that needs to be changed. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions related to the map.
 Social Prescribing Outreach Support group via WhatsApp
As you are aware - our SP Advocates Programme started a few weeks ago. During our last meeting, Mia Abusido - one of our amazing advocates, proposed a new support initiative for SPLWs - Social Prescribing Outreach Support group via WhatsApp.
This support group has been created to help connect SPLWs across London and to allow for you to access immediate telephone support as and when you need it. This is entirely peer led support - the group is made up of link workers who provide reciprocal support. There are admins within the group who you can raise any questions or concerns to.
Please see the guide to learn more about how this support works. To join the SPLW Outreach Calls group, please click here: https://chat.whatsapp.com/K04Gd0tsV4788vi0aTIfa8.
This is an open link, so if you know of any link workers who would benefit from this, please do share it with them. We would like to get as many people on here as we can to build up a fairly active group who can respond to outreach requests. Please note this is an additional avenue of support on top of what SPLWs should already be receiving from their PCNs/organisations.
Developing Children and Young People's Social Prescribing in London.
CYP Social Prescribing is a developing area and NHS England is supporting the expansion of CYP SP services. There is a CYP SP space on the FutureNHS Collaboration Platform so you may find it useful to see resources from other parts of the country and engage in discussions. Here is the link to the site and if you need access then please email england.socialprescribing@nhs.net. We also have our London Region CYP site available here. Please contact Suzi Griffits or complete this form if you would like to join the next CYP SP Community of Practice meeting!
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 us.
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SOCIAL PRESCRIBING
Special Thanks And Recognition
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Special Thanks And Recognition to Kirsten Darker, Social Prescribing Link Worker in Central 1 Primary Care Network Islington - thank you for the extraordinary work and inspiration you bring to your team and our London Social Prescribing community!
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'Kirsten has been working as SPLW for 6 months and before that, she worked as a support and recovery worker.
It is amazing how quickly she managed to transfer her existing skills to her new role and to develop a set of new skills for her current designation. She has been extremely proactive and learning on the go, which made an incredible difference in the area she is supporting and her contribution to the team.
She has been recognised by clinicians for her excellent notes and fast approach and we valued her greatly as a team member, not only because of her great work but also because she is a fantastic colleague who likes a challenge.' |
Kirsten Darker
Social Prescribing Link Worker
Central 1 Primary Care Network
Islington |
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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. |
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THE QUESTIONS YOU ARE ASKING
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Many of you get in touch with pertinent questions many other SPLWs are also wondering. We hope to answer the popular ones here... email us to submit any burning questions!
Q14: Is there a place where I could find all information related to Social Prescribing in London?
A14: There are many resources available to Social Prescribing Link Workers. It is worth visiting the NHS pages dedicated to Social Prescribing. We also recommend all SPLWs request access to the FutureNHS Social Prescribing Collaboration Platform and its London Region SP page.
Another great place is our Healthy London Partnership website dedicated to Personalised Care where you can find Social Prescribing Link Workers and SP Managers pages:
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 New Social Prescribing Pathway launched to support Children and Young People at Risk of Violence
The London Violence Reduction Programme has developed a new Social Prescribing Pathway for children and young people at risk of violence for implementation within primary care. The pathway is designed to support local systems to deliver their own social prescribing model for those at risk of or impacted by violence within their community.
The pathway will support both clinical and non-clinical staff, providing training and educational support material to increase the knowledge, skills and attitudes of healthcare staff in identifying and referring individuals to the right avenue of support.
You can read the London Violence Reduction Programme’s full report here
For further information, sign up to the NHS London Violence Reduction Bulletin here
 The health benefits of arts, cultural and community engagement. A short guide for link workers
This is a guide written for link workers and professionals in similar positions translating evidence on the benefit of supporting people to engage with arts and cultural community assets.
It highlights research informed barriers, enablers and make suggestions on how link workers can use their role to overcome some of these barriers.
The Author - Dr Marie Polley is Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Social Prescribing Network.
 Social Prescribing for people living with cancer
This webinar covers the most important aspects of social prescribing for people living with cancer. Hannah Jackson (London based SPLW) shares best practice and top tips that all colleagues could use in their practice.
 Mayor of London's Health & Wellbeing Newsletter
The monthly publication will be a chance to let you know what the Mayor is doing for Londoners in all the areas of health. Want to stay informed? Please register to receive the newsletter by filling out your contact details here: https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/health/health-newsletter. Feel free to follow @LDN_Health for regular updates from the Mayor of London team.
 London Social Prescribing Network Newsletter (for voluntary organisations) Subscribe here.
Monthly news, views, insights and opportunities around London. We encourage you to access the London Social Prescribing Network's extensive, up-to-date list of resources to help you and your practice, including explaining what social prescribing is, useful reports, research and organisations to refer people to.
 London Plus Newsletter. Subscribe here.
Do you work in or with the voluntary sector in London? London Plus’s monthly newsletter includes the latest news, funding, resources, reports, and events for London’s charities & community groups. Subscribe to their mailing list here.
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OTHER EVENTS, WEBINARS AND TRAINING
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 30th March, 1.00 - 2.30pm
Learning Together: Social Prescribing, Intersectionality & Mental Health Workshop w/ Inside Out Wellbeing. Sign up here.
London Plus in partnership with Inside Out Wellbeing are excited to hold this webinar exploring Social Prescribing for London-based charities and community organisations under our Thriving Communities Programme from the National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP).
 5th April 2022, 11.00am - 12.30pm
Shelter: Evictions S21 & S8 workshop.
For more details about the webinar and future ones on Allocations / Suitability & Overcrowding, and to secure a place please email Clare Biggar: clare_biggar@shelter.org.uk
 12 April 2022, 11.00am - 12.00
Including physical activity within Social Prescribing. Register here.
London Sport have long recognised both the role of sport and physical activity in contributing to good physical and mental health, and the potential of social prescribing in supporting health and wellbeing.
The webinar will explore key data found in a study by the University of Kent on:
- Behaviour changes after completing social prescribing training
- Self-efficacy of social prescribers after completing the training
- Increasing specialised knowledge about benefits of physical activity on health and wellbeing of patients.
- Effectively sign-posting patients to physical activities in local areas
- Confidence in measuring changes in physical activity levels to assess impact of referrals
- Learnings from implementing a new training package to a new audience
To find out more about London Sport, and their training support for social prescribing link workers click here.
 13th April 2022, 3.00 - 5.00pm
Talk for Health Taster: Learn to Talk for a Fit Mind. Register here.
Here at Talk for Health we know that true connection happens when we let go of our social masks and start being who we really are. This is why we run our Tasters, Full Programmes and T4H Cafes: to help you feel more connected to yourself and other people. We invite you to come and enjoy a Taster session, which is FREE, to find out if it is right for you. The Taster will give you a chance to experience some of the four key learning areas of our full programme:
- Open and truthful talking
- Empathic listening
- Basic counselling skills
- How to set up an ongoing group to take care of your own wellbeing and enable others to do so
Come join us and learn how to talk to for a fit mind!
There is a dedicated taster session (13th April, 11am) aimed at mental health professionals & peer workers working in NELFT (North East London Foundation Trust) , as well as residents living in Havering, Redbridge, Waltham Forest and Barking & Dagenham.
 19 April 2022, 7.00 - 10.00pm
Pharmacy Social Prescribing Conference. Register here.
Pharmacy Social Prescribing Conference (PSPC) is organised by Social Prescribing Pharmacy Association (SPPA). The aim is to gather stakeholders in Pharmacy and the Pharmaceutical Industry to advance the Social Prescribing footprint globally. Their website has more information.
 25th April 2022, 10.00am - 12.00
Understanding Food Related Issues for UK Social Prescribing Link Workers and Health & Wellbeing Coaches. Register here.
The College of Medicine course 'Understanding the importance of food' for link workers training, in collaboration with the Social Prescribing Network, funded by The AIM Foundation is now available to book.
Part 1 will be held online on Monday 25th April (10:00-12:00) and will cover topics including the impact different types of food have on your mind and body; theory behind behavioural change; community approaches to food and nutrition, professional boundaries and selfcare.
Part 2 will be held online on Wednesday 4th May (09:30-11:00) and will be case study based to support you to feel more confident to know when and how to open up and manage conversations around food/food poverty/malnutrition/weight management within your professional boundaries.
 25 April 2022, 3.00 - 4.00pm
NASP webinar: Overcoming barriers to engagement. Register here.
Overcoming barriers to engagement in social prescribing activities is essential to ensure people are able to fully benefit. From making your project as welcoming as possible, to working with volunteers who can ‘buddy’ people when they first join, and how to promote your activities so they reach the right people.
This webinar brings together expertise and lived experience from those who have found innovative and effective ways to reach people in communities, and supported them to take part.
Future webinars: (subject to change)
16 May: Exploring funding models in the voluntary and community sector
24 May: Measuring and Communicating Results with Impact
Previous webinars are available on Thriving Communities Webinars website.
 9th May 2022, 9.30am - 12.30pm
Early stage dementia awareness training for social prescribers, from Arts 4 Dementia. Book your place here.
Arts 4 Dementia runs inspiring and engaging workshops in partnership with artists and arts organisations for people living with dementia and their carers. This half-day interactive training is designed to give social prescribers insight into the challenges people face at the onset of dementia, their existing skills, how arts programmes can help re-energise and inspire them to preserve identity and stay connected in the community, and how to find appropriate arts activities locally. Cost: £10, which is fully refundable following the course and completion of an online evaluation form
 10th May 2022, 10.00am - 4.00pm
How to Embed and Scale Green Social Prescribing. Register here.
A cross government conference to discuss how to embed and scale green social prescribing to prevent and tackle mental ill-health.
This will be a hybrid event hosted at the Coin Street Community Centre, Waterloo on Tuesday 10th May ,10am-4pm.
 18th May – 19th May 2022, ExCel London
4th UK Annual #LinkWorkerDay2022 Conference. Register here.
Join National Association of Link Workers (NALW) for the 4th UK Annual #LinkWorkerDay2022 Conference taking place at The Healthcare Show, the UK’s largest gathering of senior healthcare managers, directors, C-suite leaders and clinicians working in a range of sectors across the NHS, public health, VCSE and private sector.
Please continue to follow us on Twitter: London Social Prescribing  @SP_LDN and use #LondonSocialPrescribing to let us know about your Social Prescribing schemes/ projects in London!/
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Why and how ICSs should partner with the voluntary sector to tackle health inequalities?
On the 22nd March 2022 cross-sector leaders and their learning partners came together to explore the role the voluntary sector can play in helping to tackle health inequalities in neighborhoods, places and Integrated Care Systems (ICSs). The event was a collaboration between the Innovation Unit, The National Lottery Community Fund, The King’s Fund and the Institute for Voluntary Action Research. (Source: The Innovation Unit)
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CARE COORDINATORS
& HEALTH AND WELL BEING COACHES
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Please pass the following onto any Care Coordinators you know in London!
Access the London Care Coordinator Future NHS page to post on the discussion forum, access resources and events.
Calling all Health and Well Being Coaches in London
Please join us for London Health and Well Being Coaches' peer support (facilitated by Caroline Haines, Regional Mentor for HWBCs).
HWBC National Conference: 30th March at 13.00-16.00. Sign up here..
This will be an opportunity to:
- Celebrate your role
- Hear from motivational and inspiring speakers
- Reflect on your own experiences and personal resilience
- Connect with your fellow Health and Wellbeing community
You will also receive a certificate of attendance as part of your continued personal and professional development.
If you have any SPLWs, HWBCs or CCs in your network that are not linked up to their regional support then please ask them to fill in this form.
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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.
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