In our final podcast of 2019, Ben talks to David Cowan, Care Navigation Lead at Conexus Healthcare, about how care navigation and the newly introduced link worker roles can assist in easing the pressure on PCNs. What are the key elements of the link worker role, where do link workers sit within existing staffing frameworks and how can they make the biggest impact?

David explains his journey to becoming Care Navigation Lead (1 min 3 secs)

What does David’s role involve now and how is it structured? (2 mins 2 secs)

“As well as, not instead of”; the importance of care navigation complimenting social prescribing (3 mins)

“Patients with a social need should not have to see a GP to access social prescribing support” (5 mins 8 secs)

NHS England key elements of the social prescribing role (5 mins 35 secs)

Starting from scratch; how to best implement social prescribing roles within a PCN (5 mins 54 secs)

How care navigation works and maximising its effectiveness (7 mins 5 secs)

Referral criteria & training requirements for existing practice staff (8 mins 43 secs)

Building relationships on a practice by practice basis (11 mins 22 secs)

Ben and David explore the challenges faced by a newly placed link worker and the training they require (12 mins 8 secs)

“Micro-commissioning” the link worker / travel agency analogy (13 mins 40 secs)

From a PCN perspective: What level of experience and expertise can be expected of a new link worker? (15 mins 12 secs)

How do you measure the impact of a link worker? (16 mins 31 secs)

Getting in touch (18 mins 10 secs)

 

For more information on the social prescribing qualifications and training David mentions head to https://conexus-healthcare.org/social-prescribing-qualification-training/

To get in touch with David and Conexus Healthcare:

[email protected]

or via Twitter:

@HealthyDaveC or @ConexusHealthUK