Welcome to the July Network Newsletter!

Welcome to July's edition of the newsletter which as always brings together news, stories and events relevant to the Network. 

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. And don't forget to follow us on Twitter @ScotCLWnetwork

Events, Workshops and Training

Scottish CLW Network Events

Audit Scotland Workshops for CLWs - 22 August 2024
Audit Scotland will be holding two workshops with the Scottish Community Link Worker Network to gather views in relation to their audit into primary care. The morning workshop will be for CLWs and the afternoon one for programme leads. For more information, please go to our events page

Knowledge Exchange - 25 September 2024
Our next knowledge exchange event will take place on 25 September and will feature speakers from Reengage, Survivors of Human Trafficking Across Scotland and Diabetes UK.   You can find out more information and book your place via our events page

Other Events, Training and Resources

Healing Arts Scotland Festival - 19-23 August 2024
The Healing Arts Scotland Festival will take place during the week of 19th August. Alison Leitch from Edinburgh CLW Network will be taking part in a panel discussion on Friday focusing on the future of social prescribing.

Festival of Politics 2024: Health Creators - 20 August 2024
VHS and the Cross Party Group on Health Inequalities are hosting an event as part of The Festival of Politics on 20 August from 11.30-1pm.  The event will bring a panel together to explore the right to health and the barriers to access health services and consequently exacerbate health inequities. Click here for more information.

Voluntary Health Scotland Members' Meet Up - 28 August 2024
Voluntary Health Scotland's next members' meet up with take place on 28 August and will enable members to come together and discuss the shared challenges that voluntary health providers are currently facing. 

Cross Party Group Health Inequalities - 11 September 2024
The next meeting of the Cross Party Group on Health Inequalities will be on 11 September from 6-7.30pm.

ACE Aware Scotland event - 11 September 2024
ACE Aware Scotland will be hosting The Strength of Community event on 11 September from 7-9pm which will look at how health communities help people to thrive. The event will feature as its keynote speaker Sir Michael Marmot.

Health Inequalities in Scotland: State of the Nation - 17 September 2024
This important event will bring together Scotland’s leading public health voices to share innovation, make connections and explore the practical steps that can be taken to address many of the challenges being faced in tackling health inequalities. Roisin will be a panel member in the afternoon's session looking at changing expectations and accelerating progress. You can find out more and book your place here.

Age Scotland Wellbeing Flower Facilitator Training - 24 September 2024
Age Scotland’s Wellbeing Flower facilitator training is an evidence-based interactive activity that covers a range of topics such as social connection, emotional wellbeing and physical activity.  If you are involved in creating, planning, or running activities, the Wellbeing Flower can provide you with health and wellbeing ideas and knowledge to support your group.  The workshop will run from 2-4.30pm on Tuesday 24 September at Age Scotland’s offices in Edinburgh. You can find more details and book a place here.  

Save the date: VHS Annual Conference - 23 October 2024
The VHS annual conference, 'Scotland's Vital Health Sector' will take place on Wednesday 23 October at Dynamic Earth Edinburgh. More information will follow soon, but save the date for now!

Health in Mind - Trauma Informed Practice Training
Health in Mind is running courses in trauma informed practice this autumn and winter. Further details can be found here

NHS24 Summer Health Campaign
NHS24 has launched its Summer Health Campaign for 2024 with lots of useful information and resources on summer-related health conditions. 

National Academy for Social Prescribing Link Worker Induction Pack
The National Academy for Social Prescribing has produced a social prescribing link worker induction guide to support link workers in their day-to-day practice during the first few weeks of their role.

Venture Scotland Free Challenge and Discover Programme
Venture Scotland is offering a free, outdoor-based personal development programme for young people living in Glasgow. The programme aims to help those aged 16-30 looking for support to improve mental health, make connections and positive changes to their life.  Contact Kat Jackson for more information. 

Music Can Resources
Music Can brings music into the heart of meaningful care. It has a fantastic website with a wide range of information and toolkits for health and social care practitioners, music organisations and the general public, to help make music a part of good health and social care. Music Can enables you to search for activities in Quick Guides, learn more in the Music Care section and find support near you by using the Directory.

Public Health Scotland resources on understanding of equalities data
Public Health Scotland (PHS) has launched a suite of resources to improve collection and understanding of equalities data.  These are a result of a collaboration between PHS, the University of Strathclyde and Homeless Network Scotland, that sought to understand the key barriers to equalities data being gathered in Scotland.  You can find out more about the resources here 

Highlights from across the Network

CLW expansion in Highland
Change Mental Health will continue to support more people experiencing health and wellbeing issues through the Community Link Worker (CLW) service, as part of an expansion to all GP surgeries across Highland HSCP. Change Mental Health has been delivering the CLW service since 2021. The service will significantly increase its reach and impact by now serving 62 GP practices.  The expansion will enable the charity to recruit additional staff to cover new areas across Highland, including West Sutherland, Badenoch and Strathspey, Skye and Lochalsh, and the Small Isles.

Inverclyde CLW team newsletter
The Inverclyde CLW team have published their summer newsletter with all the latest news on activities to support patients in the Inverclyde area.

Network video project
You may remember that we did some filming at the annual conference in May to capture some vox pops with CLWs, GPs and exhibitors. We are putting together a series of videos to promote the work of CLWs and the Network. We will be doing some filming with Edinburgh and Perth and Kinross CLWs over the summer and hope to launch the videos in the autumn.

Rest and Relaxation offer in the Highlands for CLWs
Voluntary Health Scotland is delighted to announce a partnership with Turadh, a social enterprise which offers socially conscious holiday accommodation (see photo below) in the stunning Scottish West Highland villages of Glenelg and Shieldaig. The ethos behind the creation of Turadh is that everyone deserves to have an opportunity for rest, recovery and time in nature. We will be contacting Programme Leads soon to offer this opportunity to CLWs from SCLWN. Please contact Roisin for more information in the meantime.

Keep us up to date!
Don't forget to share your news and updates with us and let Roisin know if you have new CLWs in post so that she can add them to the Network's updates.

Other News

Call for views on 3rd sector funding principles
The Social Justice and Security Committee is calling for views on 3rd sector funding principles as part of their pre-budget 2025-6 scrutiny.  The Committee wants to examine how the Scottish Government’s approach to fair and efficient funding can contribute to the continued effectiveness of the third sector.  The call for views will close on 16 August and you can find more information here 

Job Start Payment - spread the word!
Job Start Payment is a one-off payment of £314.45 (or £503.10 if someone is the main carer or parent of a child) to help with the costs of starting a new job including clothes, equipment and transport. People aged between 16-24 can apply if they are in receipt of certain benefits including universal credit for a period of 6 months before their job start date.

Research report looking at causes of 'missingness' in primary care
The causes of missed healthcare appointments in primary care are complex and varied, and must be addressed through policy rather than placing blame with individuals, Glasgow researchers say in a first-of-its-kind study.   The role of the CLW is highlighted as one of the resources needed to address this. Read more here

External evaluation on Inclusion Health Action in General Practice
External evaluation of Inclusion Health Action in General Practice  (IHAGP) published undertaken by The Lines Between has been published this month. The Scottish Government has also committed funding to the project for another year.  The evaluation demonstrates what has been achieved in the past year through the hard work of participating practices. The headline findings include:

• Over 7,000 extended or outreach consultations have been delivered with patients who have complex health needs and/or are often excluded from healthcare. This improves prevention and early intervention.
• Over 200 patients have been engaged through community groups.
• Over 200 staff have been trained in topics related to health inequality and trauma-informed practice.

Independent Review of the Adult Disability Payment
To inform her recommendations and ensure that the Adult Disability Payment meets the needs of disabled people, the Chair of the Independent Review of the Adult Disability Payment has announced a call for evidence with a deadline of 23 August for responses. The Adult Disability Payment Independent Review team will also be working with the SCLWN in the autumn to gather views specifically from CLWs. More information to follow!

National Care Service Bill
Following the Scottish Government’s draft amendments to the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill (Stage 2), the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee has now issued a further call for views with a deadline of 30 August for responses. This Bill would allow Scottish Ministers to transfer social care responsibility from local authorities to a new, national service. 

The King’s Fund: GSK Community Health programme
Grants up to £10,000 are available for smaller registered charities supporting people in their local community to overcome health inequalities. It also offers free leadership training and development support. Find out more about the King's Fund and make sure you apply before the deadline of 12 August.

Improving Lives? Public Health Scotland report on impact of post-2010 welfare reforms on health
Public Health Scotland has published a report examining changes in income, employment, and social security alongside trends in health and health inequalities in Scotland. The report, the fourth in a series investigating the role of post-2010 welfare reforms on health and its determinants in Scotland, notes that changes to the economy and to social protection can have a substantial impact on the health of the population. 

Committee seeks views on impact of Child Poverty Act
The Social Justice and Social Security Committee is seeking views on the impact of the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 since it came into effect. The committee is keen to hear from third sector and private organisations, local authorities, health boards and academics. The call for views closes on Friday 13 September. Click here for more information.

Scotland’s Suicide Prevention Strategy’s delivery plan published
The Scottish Government has published Scotland’s suicide prevention strategy’s delivery plan for 2024-26. The delivery plan sets out the actions for delivery over the remainder of the current Creating Hope Together action plan.