Welcome to the December

 Newsletter!

​​​​☃️🎄❄️ Welcome to the final edition of the Scottish CLW Network newsletter for 2025! We hope you manage to take some time off over the festive season for a well-earned break. Thanks to you all for your contributions to the Network in 2025.

Our December edition has all the latest information on useful resources, events and updates.

The Scottish Community Link Worker Network is the national network, developed and facilitated by Voluntary Health Scotland for primary care community link working in Scotland.

Please visit our webpage for the latest blogs, reports and information about the Network. You can follow us on Twitter @ScotCLWnetwork and don't forget to share your news and updates with us. 

Wishing you a peaceful and restful time over the festive period. ❄️🎄⛄

Events, Workshops and Training

Scottish Community Link Worker Network Events

You can find booking details, presentations and key messages from all of our Network events on our dedicated events page. 

SCLWN Knowledge Exchange - 28 January
Our next Knowledge Exchange will feature presentations from Pain Concern, Guide Dogs Scotland and One Parent Families Scotland.  Find out more and book your place.

SCLWN Cruse Training: Compassionate Conversations - 4 February
We will be running a repeat of the December workshop from Cruse in February to support CLWs to have compassionate conversations around death, dying and bereavement. Find out more and book your place.

SCLWN Leads Peer Support Event - 25 February
Our next Leads Peer Support event will take place on 25 February and will be led by Jenny Dryden, Health Improvement Lead for Argyll and Bute HSCP. Jenny will be discussing their CLW programme and how it supports people in island communities. Find out more and book your place.

SCLWN Conference and Awards 2026
Due to the Scottish Parliament elections in May next year, we wanted to let you know that we plan to hold next year's Network conference in Autumn 2026. We are just in the process of looking at some venues and will announce the date soon. 

Other Events, Training and Resources

Digital Inclusion Learning Exchange Workshops -  January 2026
As part of the next phase of the Digital Inclusion Programme Learning Exchange, the Health and Social Care Alliance will be hosting a series of workshops focusing on how digital inclusion can be supported in different services and settings across health and social care.  Designed for staff working across health, social care, and wider sectors, these workshops offer practical insights to help embed digital equity into everyday practice. Find out more.

CHES Learning Webinar - 20 January 2026
The fourth Collaboration for Health Equity in Scotland (CHES) Learning Webinar, 'Practical Implementation of a Proportionate Universalism Approach to Achieve Health Equity' will take place from 10.30-12.00. To reserve your place, please visit the Eventbrite link here. 

Digital Health and Social Care Scotland Conference -  22 January 
Holyrood Insight’s annual Digital Health and Social Care Conference takes place in Edinburgh in the new year. Chaired by Brian Whittle MSP, you will hear directly from experts on the next steps for unlocking progress and innovation in digital health and social care. Book your place here.

Participation and Communities Team -  Communities Roadshows 2026
The Scottish Parliament's Participation and Communities Team (PACT) team is visiting all 32 local authority areas and seeking local partners to co-host events and strengthen participation. Email the team to get involved.

Scotland's Annual Human Rights Conference - 3 February 2026
Scotland's Human Rights Conference 'Our Rights, Your Move' will take place in Glasgow on 3 February. You can find out more information here.

Pre-registration Now Open For The Gathering - 10 and 11 February 2026
Join in on 10th and 11th February for Scotland's biggest celebration of the voluntary sector when the Gathering takes place at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC).  You can sign up here for VHS's session: 'Prevention: The Golden Ticket to Tackling Scotland's Health Inequalities.'  

CHEX Annual Conference - 26 February 2026
Save the date! The annual CHEX (Community Health Exchange) Conference will take place on 26 February at the Barracks in Stirling. The team will be announcing more information soon about the programme for the day and how to book.

Save The Date - Social Prescribing Day - 26 March 2026
Social Prescribing Day is an annual celebration of the people, organisations and communities which make social prescribing happen. Save the date for now and we will share more information soon about how to get involved.

NHS Education Scotland (NES) Annual Conference - 23 and 24 April 2026
NES is hosting its Annual Conference online over two days on Thursday 23 & Friday 24 April 2026.  The theme of the 2026 Conference is 'Collaborate. Innovate. Transform: Delivering change towards improving health, social care and other public services in Scotland'. Further details can be found here.

Partnership With Turadh - SCLWN Member Offer
VHS has a partnership with Turadh which provides beautiful socially-conscious holiday accommodation in the Scottish West Highlands. Turadh offers discounted rates for those who work in the third sector and is currently running a winter offer of pay-what-you-can hibernation weeks. To be considered for a stay at a discounted rate, email them here.

COPE Scotland - Resources For Beating Festive Stress
This time of year can be difficult, so why not read COPE Scotland's winter wellbeing booklet which has lots of great tips to help all of us deal with the festive stress.

Free Digital Support For Sleep and Anxiety: Sleepio & Daylight
Poor sleep and anxiety are common challenges faced by the people that CLWs support. Two NHS-approved digital programmes, Sleepio and Daylight, are now free for all adults in Scotland and can be a great addition to your toolkit.  Email Greig Thomson to find out more about local training opportunities.

NHS 24 Public Health Campaign For Winter
NHS 24 has published its winter toolkit for its 2025-26 Public Health Campaign.  Highlighting the convenience and benefits of using digital services which are delivered by experts, the campaign promotes theses services as a great first port of call if people are unwell and are not sure where to get help.

Free Courses For Social Prescribers on TURAS
Don't forget to check out the TURAS social prescribing landing page.  The page has lots of free courses which will be of interest to link workers, social prescribers and the wider third sector, so please do share it with your colleagues. If there are other courses you would like included on the page, please get in touch with Roisin.

News from across the Network

VHS AGM Event Features Clackmannanshire CLW Team
Gemma Pritchard-Woollett, Lead CLW for Clackmannanshire took part in a panel session at VHS's recent AGM online event 'Insight to Impact: Third Sector Data as a Catalyst for Change.' Gemma talked about their process for capturing data to demonstrate the impact of the CLW service. You can read the key messages from the event here. 

Consultation Response: Quality Prescribing For Chronic Pain
Thanks to those CLWs who joined us to discuss their views on the Scottish Government's consultation on Quality Prescribing for Chronic Pain.  In VHS's response to the consultation, we welcome the recognition of social prescribing as an effective non-pharmacological approach for treating chronic pain. However, we also advise caution in referring to social prescribing models in clinical guidance without recognising the considerable challenges many social prescribing services are facing at present. Read our response

Evaluation Support Scotland Workshops to Support CLW Outcomes
Thanks to all the CLWs and Programme Leads who have participated in three workshops led by Evaluation Support Scotland to support the creation of national outcomes for the CLW programme. This is part of the Scottish Government's national review into community link working and specifically the workstream looking at data, evaluation and outcomes. 

Embedding CLWs into General Practice - What Does Good Look Like?
Thanks to everyone who contributed their experiences of what works for them as well as the challenges when embedding CLWs into general practice. We have written this up as a good practice guide  and we are keen to continue adding resources to the page.  Please share any handbooks, posters and videos that you use with practices to raise awareness of the CLW role.

You can also watch a video from Dr. Chris Provan, Chair of RCGP Scotland, in which he talks about the importance of CLWs within general practice.

Network Teams Channels 
Just a reminder that we have two Teams channels for community link workers and programme leads to enable everyone to ask questions and share resources. If you want to be added to one of the Teams channels, please contact Roisin.

Other News

Auditor General’s NHS in Scotland 2025 Report Published
The Auditor General for Scotland has published his NHS in Scotland 2025 report, focusing on finance and performance. The report concludes that the NHS in Scotland has not improved in line with commitments made by the Scottish Government, despite having “more staff and more money”. VHS published its reflections on Audit Scotland's report which reinforces many of VHS's recent policy asks. Read VHS's response here. 

Fair Funding Pilot Results Show Some Positive Impacts
A Scottish Government pilot has shown the positive impact multi-year funding has on third sector organisations.  Findings published in a new report show that a majority of organisations felt the pilot had made a difference to staff recruitment, organisational stability, and the ability to plan for the future. Challenges remain, however, with some respondents noting issues around a lack of inflationary uplifts, and second year funding remaining dependent on an agreed Scottish Budget.

Year 4 of The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund 
The Scottish Government has published its Monitoring and Reporting summary for Year 4 (2023-24) of the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund.

Scottish Forum on Isolation and Loneliness Launches Manifesto
The Scottish Forum on Isolation and Loneliness has unveiled a new manifesto urging the next Scottish Government to make tackling social isolation and loneliness a public health priority. Voluntary Health Scotland including SCLWN is a signatory to its manifesto.  

National Project Shows Peer Support is Vital in Suicide Prevention
Creating Hope with Peer Support has published its three-year impact report, showcasing how peer support is a vital and life-changing element of suicide prevention in communities across Scotland.  Led by Scottish Recovery Network, the project is a core component of the Scottish Government and COSLA’s Creating Hope Together Suicide Prevention Strategy.  Find out more.

Planning Matters for Public Health
A new report has explored how the planning system can be used to create healthier environments in Scotland. Published by NESTA and Public Health Scotland, the report has a focus on exploring why planning matters for public health, and how different parts of the system shape local food environments.

Life Expectancy in Scotland Increases to Pre-Pandemic Levels
NRS data show that the life expectancy of both men and women in Scotland has increased.  The average life expectancy for the 2022 to 2024 period was 77.12 years for men and 81.06 years for women, according to the National Records of Scotland (NRS).  This is an increase of almost 18 weeks for men and almost 14 weeks for women, compared to the average for the 2021 - 2023 period.  However, the NRS said life expectancy between Scotland's most and least deprived areas "remains significant".