Social Prescriber Link Worker (Band 4)

Job summary

Are you a great listener, who is person centred, with a passion for helping people find practical solutions to life's challenges? We are looking for a compassionate and motivated Social Prescribing Link Worker to join our friendly team.

You will help patients aged 18+ navigate non-medical needssuch as supporting patients with long term conditions, loneliness, mental wellbeing, debt, housing concerns, or physical inactivity. Rather than focusing purely on medical symptoms, you will give people the time and a safe space to explore "what matters to me" and connect them to empowering local community groups and support networks.

Improving patients wellbeing, independence and quality of life through personalised support and community-based solutions.

We are accepting CVs for this role, please also include a cover letter outlining your suitabilty for the role. Please note that the use of AI is monitored during the shortlisting process; if you have used this please declare this in your statement explaining what type of AI tools have been used and for what purpose.

Interviews will take place on Thursday 17th September 2026.

Main duties of the job

Take a whole population approach, working with a range of people who may benefit from social prescribing, including people who are lonely, have complex social needs, low level mental health needs and long-term conditions

Help people to identify issues that affect their health & wellbeing, and co-produce a simple personalised care and support plan

Support people by connecting them to non-medical, community-based activities, groups and services that meet their practical, social and emotional needs, including specialist advice services and arts and culture, physical activity, and nature and green based activities

Support people with advice and guidance to improve their mental wellbeing addressing issues such as financial issues, loneliness or social isolation, anxiety, housing etc.

Use coaching and motivational interviewing techniques to support people to take control of their own health and wellbeing

Support development of accessible and sustainable community offers by working in partnership with VCSE organisations, local authorities and others to identify gaps in provision, and take a community development approach to enabling growth in community activities and groups.

We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, in particular those from ethnic minority backgrounds who are currently under-represented in our service.

About us

Viaduct Care CIC is the company structure for Stockport's GP Federation and represents all of its local GP Practices. Covering a patient population of circa 300,000 practices are split into 6 PCNs with each serving a population of around 30,000-50,000 patients.

Viaduct Care represents the collective voice and interests of its member practices and as a key stakeholder in Stockport Together aims to influence and support the design and delivery of major service and system changes by being a strong and effective partner with other major service providers.

One of our priorities at Viaduct Care is to ensure that wellbeing and development of our team is at the forefront of everything we do. We have recently launched our new employee assistance programme, assisting our team to get access to a range of advice 24 hours a day. Additionally, we are keen to provide opportunities for team members to develop and grow including access to an extensive range of training and up to five paid study days per year.

For more information of the benefits of working at Viaduct click on 'Why Join Viaduct Care' on the right hand side of the page.

Job responsibilities

• Main Roles & Responsibilities:
• Take referrals from the PCNs Core Network Practices and from a wide range of agencies, including pharmacies, health and care multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs), the emergency services, legal and welfare advice services, VCSE organisations, and through self-referrals (list not exhaustive).
• Provide personalised support to individuals, their families and carers to access community-based activities and support that can help them to take control of their health and wellbeing through co-producing a simple personalised care and support plan and introducing people to appropriate activities, groups and services as described above
• To help patients access increased social support as a buffer against adverse life events.
• To increase access to resources and services which promote mental wellbeing.
• To use a strength based approach to identify key issues that impact on the persons wellbeing and supporting patients to understand and manage their own conditions and maintain an independent lifestyle.
• To play an active role in practice/neighbourhood team meetings by gathering information and being prepared to update the team on patient progress towards goals etc.
• To support patients access community facilities, groups and community activities/resources at a locality level and understand neighbourhood facilities.
• Work with appropriate supervision to manage and prioritise your own caseload, in accordance with needs, priorities and support required by individuals. Refer people back to other health professionals/agencies, as appropriate or necessary.
• Build ongoing relationships with local infrastructure organisations, community activities and support services to increase knowledge of the community support offer, and work collaboratively to develop effective partnership working to support the community offer to be sustainable, identifying gaps in provision, nurturing community assets and sharing intelligence on gaps or problems with commissioners and local authorities
• Increase the strength and capacity of the community, enabling local VCSE organisations and community groups to both receive social prescribing referrals and to make referrals to social prescribing link workers.
• Educate non-clinical and clinical staff within PCN MDTs on the community support offer, how and when patients can access it, and the value of non-medical community-based interventions. This may include verbal or written advice and guidance.
• Promote social prescribing as an approach across the PCN and wider agencies, including its role in supported self-management, in addressing health inequalities and the wider determinants of health, reducing pressure on statutory services, improving access to healthcare and improving health outcomes, and in taking a holistic approach to care.
• To participate in relevant service audits and to follow up referrals and instructions as proposed by primary care staff. Responsible for capturing and collating data that demonstrates a positive impact on the peoples outcomes.
• To attend supervision, case management and steering group meetings as required.
• To maintain professional and personal development.
• This post requires flexible working and scheduled working patterns to ensure service provision.

This list of duties is not intended to be exhaustive, but indicates the main areas of work and may be subject to change after consultation with the post-holder to meet the changing needs of the service.

Please see the full description (including standard organisational clauses) downloadable document to the right of this page.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential

• English and Maths GCSE or equivalent.
• NVQ Level III (Health and Social Care) or relevant professional or vocational qualification at Level 3 or above, or equivalent knowledge and experience.

Desirable

• Training in Motivational Interviewing or Coaching or equivalent experience.
• Formal training in working with long term conditions.

Experience

Essential

• Experience of supporting people with low level/common mental health needs in the community.
• Ability to sensitively empower and engage with people who have poor wellbeing and other health related needs.
• Knowledge of the voluntary/social care sector in Stockport.
• Evidence of ability to work both autonomously and to seek support and guidance when appropriate.
• Evidence of working within a team.
• Experience of working without direct supervision.
• Experience of managing a caseload of participants and keeping up to date records using a database.

Desirable

• Experience of working with the VCSE sector (in a paid or unpaid capacity), including with volunteers and small community groups.
• Experience of working with individuals with long term conditions.
• Evidence of working within a multidisciplinary team.
• Experience of using community based activities and resources to support individuals.

Skills and Abilities

Essential

• Knowledge of the voluntary/social care sector in Stockport.
• Ability to sensitively empower and engage with people who have poor wellbeing and other health related needs.
• Ability to deal with challenging behaviour and difficult conversations.
• Ability to work with people from a range of agencies and organisations to develop effective working relationships.
• Ability to effectively manage a variable workload.
• Ability to provide a culturally sensitive service by supporting people from all backgrounds and communities and respecting lifestyles and diversity.
• Ability to work flexibly in an innovative and developing role.

Desirable

• Ability to speak a second language i.e) Urdu or Punjabi

Additional Attributes

Essential

• Good IT skills.
• Good communication and interpersonal skills, including an ability to build rapport and establish good one to one relationships.
• Willingness to work in settings across Stockport.
• Commitment to working towards Viaduct Care CICs values and ethos as an organisation.
• Ability to work flexibly in an innovative and developing role.

Desirable

• An understanding of the importance of user/carer involvement.