Welcome to the first Network Newsletter of 2025!

​​​​Welcome to our first newsletter of 2025! We hope you all managed to have some rest and relaxation over the festive period and are excited about the year ahead.

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. 

Events, Workshops and Training

Scottish CLW Network Events
Don't forget that you can find details, presentations and key messages from all of our SCLWN events on our events page.

Peer Support Event - 20 February  - share your ideas!
Our next CLW peer support event will take place in February. This is an opportunity for CLWs to share good practice and learning from their peers in smaller groups. You can let us know what topics you would like to discuss when you book your place  Previous sessions have covered trauma and self-care, training and how to have good conversations. Book your place here.

SCLWN Annual Conference and Awards - get nominating! 
Our 2025 Annual Conference will take place on Wednesday 7 May at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Glasgow featuring keynote speakers Neil Gray, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and Gordon MacRae, Assistant Director, Shelter Scotland. The Conference will include awards for the first time and the nomination process for the awards is now open. Please find further details on how to enter on our Conference webpage. We will be opening bookings for the conference in February so save the date for now!

Other Events, Training and Resources

Age Scotland - Supporting Older People to Age Well workshops
Age Scotland is running 'Supporting Older People to Age Well' workshops across early 2025 on the dates and locations below. Book your place at one of the free workshops here.  

5 February 2025, Perth
19 February 2025, Aberdeen
26 February 2025, Glasgow  

Join VHS at The Gathering - 4 & 5 February 
The Gathering is back at the EICC in Edinburgh in 2025!  VHS and SCLWN will be exhibiting and VHS is also hosting a panel session on 5 February entitled 'Catalysts for Change - The Role of Third Sector Leaders in Health Creation'. The panel session is currently fully booked; you can join the waiting list here.

Cross Party Group (CPG) Health Inequalities Meeting - 19 February 
The next meeting of the CPG on Health Inequalities will take place online on 19 February from 6 - 7.30 pm. The meeting will focus on human rights and health inequalities and will feature guest speaker, Charlie McMillan, Interim Director of the Human Rights Consortium Scotland. Book your place here.

Money Guiders' Network February Webinars
The Money Guiders' Network has two webinars coming up in February on Building Empowerment and Resilience through transactional analysis and Gambling and Gambling Related Harms. For more information about all their events, please visit their Eventbrite page.

Mental Health First Aid Courses - 10 & 11 March
This course will take place at the Royal British Legion Club in Grangemouth. The course is primarily for the staff of the Forces Employment Charity although a small number of places are also available for those whose jobs involve supporting military veterans. For course bookings, please email the course instructor Glen MacDonald. 

CHEX Annual Conference - 12 March
The CHEX Annual Conference will take place at the Barracks Conference Centre, Stirling, with a focus on turning knowledge and learning into action. Save the date for now and find more information here.

Continuing the Conversation: Population Health Framework - 20 March
VHS will be hosting a follow-up event with Public Health Scotland on the Population Health Framework. Continuing the Conversation on the Population Health Framework will take place online on 20 March and we would welcome CLWs joining this discussion.

Applying a 'Missingness Lens' to Health Inequalities - 26 March
Join VHS at this event to explore missingness in healthcare and the impact on health inequalities. The event will feature guest speaker, Professor Andrea Williamson,  Professor of General Practice and Inclusion Health at the University of Glasgow.  Book your place here.

The Health and Social Care Alliance Annual Conference - 30 April
Registration is now open for The Alliance Annual Conference 2025 'Our Voices Matter' which will take place on 30 April 2025. Keynote speakers include Professor Sir Michael Marmot.

Sands Baby Loss Charity - free webinars
Sands is the UK’s leading baby loss charity and supports anyone affected by pregnancy loss or the death of a baby. Find out more information about the support from Sands. You can download resources and information about its free training webinars for professionals working with people affected by baby loss.  Please contact Bereavement Support Services Co-ordinator Joanne Robison for more information.

Love Your Liver and free liver health awareness sessions
Liver disease is a major public health concern and tackling its risk factors is key to improving the nation’s overall health. If you would like to find out more, please visit the website. The Trust is also encouraging people to take a pledge to Love Your Liver.  To arrange a FREE liver health awareness session contact Scotland Outreach worker, Lesley Simpson. 

Contact Scotland support
Contact Scotland is a charity which supports families with disabled children and young people (0-25) in Scotland.  They help professionals work successfully with families by providing training and consultancy. Please email to find out more about their services.

Cruse Scotland training courses
Cruse Scotland is the nation's leading provider of training in bereavement theory and grief support.  It offers a range of training sessions suitable for a vast spectrum of organisations, including community groups, charities and healthcare. Why not take a look at their training calendar.

Glasgow Centre for Population Health - Concept Explainer series
The Glasgow Centre for Population Health's concept explainer breaks down key concepts in public health, explaining their importance in simple terms. You’ll learn about topics like epidemiology, health policy, preventive care, and how social, environmental, and economic factors influence health outcomes. Their latest concept explainer focuses on social prescribing. Read more here. 

Social Prescribing courses on TURAS
Don't forget we have a dedicated courses page for social prescribers on the TURAS website which you can access here. You just need to set up a TURAS account which is very easy to do.  If there are courses you would like to see on the page, please contact Roisin.

Highlights from across the Network

Glasgow CLW highlights the impact of community link working
Sharon Irvine, pictured above, who is a community link worker in Glasgow highlighted the lasting impact that community link working can have in a recent article published by the Glasgow Times. Sharon is employed by the Health and Social Care Alliance (The Alliance) and is based in Castlemilk Health Centre. She commented, 

 "The impact sometimes is immeasurable. There are people I’ve supported on a one-to-one basis who have now joined groups they would never have done without someone taking them there."

You can read the full article here.

Network Teams Channel
To develop the Network's Community of Practice, we would like to launch a Teams channel to enable the Network's CLWs to chat, discuss challenges, ask questions and share resources more easily. Roisin will email Network members soon to provide more information and to invite them to join. 

Network videos and podcasts
Following on from our filming over the summer and autumn, we will soon be launching our series of SCLWN videos and podcasts  on the VHS YouTube channel. The videos and podcasts focus on the role of CLWs and the impact they have on general practice, patients and the local community. We also did some filming at May's annual conference last year and have a wee taster video of some of you on our Network webpage, telling us about what you think of the Network! Thanks to everyone who agreed to be filmed and a special thank you to the teams from Edinburgh, Perth and Kinross and Dundee.  

Bromley-by-Bow team deliver induction training to new CLWs
Dan Hopewell and Wilma Bol from Bromley-by-Bow delivered induction training to 18 new CLWs from 10 different CLW programmes at the end of last year. The training took place over two mornings, with the first session focused on supporting people with multiple disadvantages.   The second one was a reflective practice session, which looked at setting boundaries, managing caseloads and closing cases. Feedback was extremely positive with 100% satisfaction from participants after the first session. One CLW commented:

"[ It was] helpful to hear that other link workers are experiencing the same issues and looking to build their confidence in the same areas that I struggle with. I feel like the sessions has given me useful tools to make sure I'm framing conversations helpfully and kindly to patients".

Visit to The Sorted Project
Roisin, along with the rest of the VHS team, recently visited VHS member The Sorted Project (see photo below). The Sorted provides support for men and women in recovery on board their canal boat, Panacea. Their service supports people who are looking for activities and direction following treatment. Peer support is available as members of their team have lived experience of recovery. 

Other News

Cyrenians' Chief Executive highlights role of CLWs
Ewan Aitken, Chief Executive of Cyrenians reflects on the previous year in an opinion piece for Third Force News. He references attending the VHS conference in October and hearing about the work that organisations are doing to support health in their communities. He also highlights the role of CLWs and the parity of esteem between partners which is the bedrock of their work. Read the full article in this month's Third Force News.

Scottish Government to drop Part 1 of the National Care Service Bill
Maree Todd, Minister for Social Care, Wellbeing and Sport, delivered a ministerial statement to parliament on Thursday in which she outlined next steps for the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill following the November 2024 pause, with the government intending to remove Part 1 of the bill and for Parts 2 and 3 to continue at Stage 2.

Getting the inactive active - SPICe briefing
Two academic research fellows from Abertay University and the University of the West of Scotland have written a briefing which explores barriers to physical activity in Scotland and highlights potential policy solutions.The briefing is the first output from a SPICe (Scottish Parliament's Information Centre) academic fellowship. Read the briefing here.

Poor quality housing is harming health
A ground-breaking new report by the UCL Institute of Health Equity (IHE) highlights the profound impacts – both positive and negative – that housing has on health and wellbeing. Building Health Equity: The Role of the Property Sector in Improving Health lays out how poor quality and inequitable access to homes that people can afford is linked with worse mental and physical health, whereas increased availability of secure, affordable, warm homes can improve long-term health and longevity. 

PVG Fees and Discounts Consultation Analysis Report
An analysis report published in December highlighted that the proposed introduction of a discounted PVG fee for volunteers in Qualifying Voluntary Organisations (QVOs) would be widely unpopular and detrimental for Scotland’s third sector and the people it supports. Read the full report here.

Scottish Approach to Change 
Healthcare Improvement Scotland is currently developing a Scottish Approach to Change for health and social care. It is seeking feedback on how it can improve and refine it. More information is available here.

Concerns around Edinburgh IJB grant cuts
Jeremy Balfour MSP, has lodged a motion which notes significant cross-party concern at the reported plan by Edinburgh Integration Joint Board (IJB) to scrap its £4.5m charity grant programme at the end of June. The motion urges Edinburgh IJB to listen to the argument that abolishing such preventative spending with its charity partners is a false economy which will increase costs by driving service users to the city’s already overstretched primary care and secondary acute and emergency services.

Evidence Review on Minority Ethnic Women's Experience in Scotland
A report on the Intersectional Evidence Review on Minority Ethnic Women’s Experience in Scotland has been published. The report explores evidence on the experiences of minority ethnic women living in Scotland as a route to examining the importance of intersectional analysis, plus the opportunities and challenges of taking an intersectional approach in data collection, analysis and reporting.

Mental Health in Primary Care Progress Report
The Scottish Government has published its progress report into Mental Health in Primary and Community Care. The report outlines actions to improve access to support, assessment and treatment in primary care mental health and wellbeing services. This includes support from general practice, digital provision, NHS 24, workforce education and out of hours. The report highlights the role that CLWs play in supporting people with mental health issues. 

Scottish Government publishes update report on NHS Recovery Plan
The Scottish Government has published an annual update report for 2024 regarding progress on the NHS Recovery Plan 2021-26. Neil Gray, Cabinet Secretary for Health, has stressed the government remains committed to delivering on the actions set out in the plan.