Charlotte Osborn Forde is the Chief Executive of Involve Kent, a large registered charity that delivers services to vulnerable people. It has developed a primary focus in recent years on social prescribing. In this episode Charlotte explains how the charity contracts with the NHS to deliver Link Workers. She talks about the results for patients and practices of using Link Workers including an increase of 66% of referred patients becoming more physically active. The scheme has delighted GPs with one saying that social prescribing has become “the most transformative thing” in his career.

Show Notes

Charlotte describes Involve Kent (38secs)

Early adoption of social prescribing (1min 48secs)

Funding for the voluntary sector (3mins 04secs)

A joint bid with the CCG to work with GP practices (4mins 07secs)

Building a partnership with GPs (4mins 48secs)

The scale of the practices (5mins 38secs)

A Link Worker in each practice and their caseload (6mins 43secs)

Receiving referrals (7mins 37secs)

The early results – the ONS wellbeing measure (8mins 22secs)

Physical activity levels (9mins 53secs)

Levels of loneliness and health (11mins 06secs)

The impact on the practices – difficulties with the data (12mins 10secs)

Anecdotal reaction of practices (13mins 14secs)

Link workers working across practices (14mins 35secs)

Vital links to a proper infrastructure (15mins 41secs)

Working with PCNs (16mins 27secs)

Buying in the service (18mins 29secs)

Charlotte’s advice – find a local champion and follow the guidance (19mins 03secs)

Selecting the right Link Workers (20mins 25secs)

Key qualities for effective Link Workers (21mins 05secs)

The selection process (22mins 01secs)

Work with others (22mins 34secs)

System data (23mins 23secs)

For other podcasts on social prescribing visit our Podcast Index here

The Involve Kent website is here

They are on Twitter @InvolveKent