Welcome to the July Network Newsletter!

The Newsletter brings together news, stories and events which we hope will be of interest to the Network. 

In this month's edition, we have details of our Network's autumn events and follow up information from Age Scotland's Community Connecting Service.

The Scottish Community Link Worker Network is the national network, developed and facilitated by VHS, for primary care community link working in Scotland. Please visit our webpage for the latest blogs, reports and information about the Network. And don't forget to follow us on Twitter @ScotCLWnetwork

Events, Workshops and Training

Upcoming Scottish CLW Network Autumn Events

CLW Lunchtime Peer Support Event - 13th September 

We have set aside Thursday 13th September from 12.30 - 2pm for a CLW lunchtime peer support event. This is an opportunity for CLWs from across the Network to come together online to meet and catch up in smaller groups. If there are particular topics of conversation that you would like to discuss, please do let us know!

Programme Leads Event - 4th October

Following the success of our first event for CLW Programme Leads, we will be hosting a second event on 4th October from 10-12noon on Zoom. 

Knowledge Exchange Event - 15th November

Our fourth knowledge exchange event on 15th November from 10-12 will feature speakers from Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland and The Pain Association Scotland. 

You can find details of all our events and book a place on our events page

Recent Scottish CLW Network Events

Scottish Community Link Worker Network Conference - Key Messages

We have published the key messages from the conference which we hope you find a useful reminder of the day.  You can also find all the presentations from the day and our exhibitor blogs.

Knowledge Exchange Event - follow up information from Age Scotland

Presentations from our third Knowledge Exchange which featured speakers from Age Scotland and Kidney Research UK are available on our website.  

During the event, there was some interest from CLWs in Age Scotland's Community Connecting service and there is more information below:

In Scotland, over 200,000 older people say they feel lonely all or most of the time.  Age Scotland’s Friendship Services aim to combat this! The Community Connecting Service links older people to social opportunities in their local community- befriending, interest groups, further learning, health and wellbeing classes- the list is endless.

If you would like to hear more about referrals to the service or would like to learn about the service more generally, please feel free to get in touch with Ashley Marr Friendship Manager.

Other Events

Free Training - Mental Health First Aid Armed Forces Community Course

MHFA Armed Forces Community Course has been specifically designed to meet the needs of the whole armed forces community, including serving and ex-serving personnel, their family and friends, and people who work with or support them. Training is delivered over two days in four manageable chunks:

• Session 1- What is mental health?
• Session 2 - Suicide and depression
• Session 3 - Psychosis
• Session 4 - Anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.

For more information about the courses, please contact Glen Macdonald

National Rural Mental Health Forum Online Seminars - various dates

1. 23rd August 2023 - supporting those with Mental Health and Money Worries. The event will include speakers from Scottish Government's Wellbeing & Prevention Unit. More information available here

2. 25th October 2023 - this event will feature Maree Todd MSP, Minister for Mental Wellbeing, Social Care & Sport and Jana Riedmaier, University of Edinburgh Business School talking about digital solutions for supporting people with their mental health. More information available here

National Care Service Engagement Events - various dates                           

The Scottish Government has confirmed a programme of events will take place over the summer in order for people to have their say on the National Care Service. The first event took place in Stirling on Tuesday 20 June. Meetings spanning from Glasgow, Dundee, Dumfries and Galloway, Skye, and Shetland will follow, ending with two national online events on Thursday 24 and Tuesday 29 August. 

Scottish Government Festival of Politics - 9th - 11th August

The Scottish Parliament is hosting its 19th Festival of Politics, taking place over three days, from Wednesday 9th to Friday 11th August. Extra events, run in partnership with the Edinburgh International Festival, take place before, during and after these dates. Featuring events on politics, current affairs, social and environmental issues, the Festival offers people in Scotland an opportunity to come to their Parliament and discuss the issues facing society today.

Arts, Culture, Health and Wellbeing Scotland: Creative Health Conversation - 22nd August 2023

Arts, Culture, Health and Wellbeing Scotland's Creative Health Conversation: Building Healthy Communities will discuss how healthy communities lead to healthy people, as well as the role that arts and culture play in healthy communities and will hear a few examples of how this can work in practice - book your place here. 

NCD Prevention: reducing the impact of health-harming products - 20th September

Last year, Holyrood partnered with the newly formed NCD Alliance Scotland on the public health day of its Health and Care Festival. They are delighted to be partnering with the NCD Alliance Scotland once again for this one-day event on 20th September: NCD prevention: reducing the impact of health-harming products to consider what progress has been made in reducing NCD related deaths and ill-health, and discuss what further policy action is required. 

Understanding Barriers to Accessing Primary Care: A Third Sector Response - 28th September

This Voluntary Health Scotland event will ask your views on the barriers people face when accessing primary care, especially people affected by socio-economic inequalities. In your experience, what are the barriers to primary care, and how are they widening the health inequalities gap? This event will ensure that there is a strong voluntary health perspective contributing to the work of the Primary Care Health Inequalities Development Group.  Book your place here

Highlights from the Network

Unforgotten Forces and Community Link Workers

Roisin Hurst from the Scottish Community Link Worker Network along with Theresa Henry and Liam McGinlay (above) from Sources of Support in Dundee presented on the work of the Network and the role of CLWs in supporting older people at an event for services that support older members of ex-Armed Forces community in Scotland. The session generated some good discussion, particularly in relation to raising awareness within primary care of the Armed Forces Covenant.  The event was hosted by the Unforgotten Forces partnership which Age Scotland leads. The partnership encourages productive connections between Armed Forces charities and projects.

Inverclyde CLW summer newsletter

Inverclyde's summer newsletter is out now - you read all their latest news as well as find out about the community activities and resources available to Inverclyde patients

We always want to hear from new CLWs!

It is always great to hear news from across the Network. Don't forget to get in touch if you have new CLWs who have recently started in post. We are always keen to welcome them to the Network. Please get in touch with Roisin if you want to add any CLWs to the Network's mailing list.

Other News

National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Project: Evaluation of multi region evaluation of social prescribing link workers

Voluntary Health Scotland's Chief Executive, Claire Stevens, is on the reference group for a NIHR-funded project led by the University of Manchester. The project is looking at a UK multi-region evaluation of social prescribing link workers and will include some of Scotland's programmes in its mapping work.  The research team wants to find out how link worker services operate, how well they work, who does and doesn't use them, whether they are of benefit to people and are a good use of NHS resources. You can read more about their research  and keep up-to-date with their latest blogs 

Scottish Government Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy

The Scottish Government has published the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. The strategy, published following a government initiated question, was produced in partnership with COSLA and is built around three principles: promoting positive mental health and wellbeing; preventing mental health issues from occurring or escalating; and providing mental health and wellbeing support. 

A Human Rights Bill for Scotland: Consultation

The Scottish Government has published its consultation on A Human Rights Bill for Scotland. You can also find details of a series of engagement events over the coming months to allow individuals and communities to come along to share their views and inform the Human Rights Bill.

PCIP Implementation Progress

Scottish Government has published details of its report into Primary Care Improvement Plans Implementation Progress March 2023 It is great to see there are now over 300 CLWs in Scotland!

Social Prescribing Definition Study

With the rapid growth of social prescribing across the world, there have been calls for an agreed definition of social prescribing. The social prescribing definition study has now been published in BMJ Open. You can access the article here.

HcL Transport - supporting people with mobility challenges in Edinburgh and the Lothians

HcL Transport is a charity that supports people with mobility challenges in Edinburgh, East, West and Midlothian with  accessible door-through-door transport. This includes older people; people with disabilities, additional support needs, health issues (long term or short term) and geographic remoteness. They support people who would otherwise not be able to get out of their home to do their own shopping, access other local facilities, attend appointments and social activities.   For more information, please contact Elizabeth Campbell, Service Delivery Manager.

Open University launches the UK's first ever Ageing Well Pledge 

From 1st September, The Open University is launching a free, UK-wide public health campaign: Take Five to Age Well. Taking place during the UN’s Decade of Healthy Ageing, the campaign will invite people to join a community making small daily changes for better ageing across 5 categories: Eat, Drink, Move, Connect, and Engage and Think. Pledgers sign up online and commit to 30 days of healthy ageing habits that will boost their health and wellbeing now and into the future. 

All content is evidence-based and expert-led, helping to bring a lasting positive impact. They will offer people various support channels including regular emails and a coaching app, informed by behavioural change techniques. You can find more information here 

If you want to get in touch, check out their website or email the team directly.

Scottish Government continues partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support

The Scottish Government has agreed to continue its partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support to improve the service offered to those affected by cancer through the Transforming Cancer Care Programme (TCC). The TCC, which began under the 2016 Cancer Strategy, looks to ensure that everyone affected by cancer in Scotland has access to a specialist key support worker so clinicians have more time to offer direct medical and clinical support to patients. A further £9m is set to be invested in the programme, with each partner providing £4.5m over the next three years.

New suicide prevention resources launched for public sector workforce

NHS Education for Scotland has launched four new skilled level facilitation packages in partnership with Public Health Scotland covering distress and crisis, self-harm prevention and suicide prevention for children and adults.