Welcome to the December Network Newsletter!

The Newsletter brings together news, stories and events of interest to the Network.

In this month's edition, we have the usual round up of Network news, events and training.

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

This is the last newsletter of 2023, so we would like to take this opportunity to say have a lovely time over the festive season and best wishes for a wonderful 2024! 🎄🎁🎉

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Events, Workshops and Training

Scottish CLW Network Training and Events

Knowledge Exchange event - January 2024

We held our latest Knowledge Exchange event on 15 November when we welcomed speakers from Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland and The Pain Association Scotland. Don't worry if you missed the event, you can access both presentations here. Our next Knowledge Exchange event will take place on Thursday 25 January from 10-12noon and will feature speakers from Pancreatic Cancer UK, NHS 24 and Paths for All. Find out more information including how to register for your place.

Essential Connections research report event - February 2024

Voluntary Health Scotland and the Scottish Community Link Worker Network launched their report, Essential Connections on 30 November. The report looks at the range and scope of community link worker programmes across Scotland. We will be hosting a presentation and Q&A on the report on Wednesday 22 February 2024. You can book your place here

Peer support event - February 2024

Our next Network peer support event will be on Wednesday 28 February from 12.30 - 2pm. We are keen to hear from CLWs about the different methods and resources you use to support and record your conversations with patients. Is there a specific model you use to structure your conversations? Are there particular tools that you find effective to help you engage with someone? What’s a good way of starting a conversation with someone who is reluctant to talk? We will also discuss the materials and resources that CLWs use to encourage patients and communities to actively engage with their services.

Scottish Community Link Worker Network annual conference May 2024 - save the date and find out more about exhibitor opportunities!

Our 2024 Conference will take place on Wednesday 29 May 2024 at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Glasgow. We already have Michael Matheson MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and Professor Sir Gregor Smith, Chief Medical Officer for Scotland as our keynote speakers. We will be working with the Network's advisory and working groups to put together an exciting and interesting programme for the day. Find out more about exhibition opportunities on our events page. If you have any thoughts you would like to share about next year's conference, please get in touch with Roisin or Lauren

Other training and events

Did you miss out on SCVO's Gathering Extra?

Did you miss the SCVO Gathering or Gathering Extra? Fancy catching up on some of their thought-provoking sessions? Access their curated programme of events, plus discussions and reflections with their special guests online! Available until 2 January here

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) – shared decision-making online resource

NES along with Scottish Government’s Realistic Medicine team have produced an online resource: an introduction to shared decision making. This resource is for all staff working in health and social care and it covers why shared decision-making is important, the barriers and how to have a shared decision-making conversation.

GamCare - free gambling awareness and prevention training

GamCare is running a free online Gambling Awareness and Prevention (GAP) training session on Wednesday 10 Jan 2024 from 13:30 - 15:30. Please click this link to reserve a space and for further information. For more information about GamCare, please contact their Engagement Lead Jason Meek

Wellbeing Flower catch-up café

The Wellbeing Flower is an Age Scotland toolkit that enables community groups and services to gain insight into how they contribute to the health and wellbeing of older people they support, and to plan ways of growing that contribution. This informal online session on Wednesday 10 January is an opportunity to hear from those that have used The Wellbeing Flower about their experiences, followed by discussion. Book now

Highlights from the Network

Essential Connections Report launched on 30 November

Voluntary Health Scotland and the Scottish Community Link Worker Network's long-awaited report exploring the range and scope of community link worker programmes across Scotland was published on 30 November. The report Essential Connections was written by Findlay Smith, the Network's Policy and Research Officer and it aims to capture and understand more about the range and scope of community link worker programmes across Scotland. The report has had a lot of coverage over the last couple of weeks including a headline piece in healthandcare.scot

Update from Dundee CLWs (Sources of Support)

Theresa Henry from Sources of Support has sent the following update:

Their team took part in the Celebrating Success Event at Ninewells Hospital this month which celebrated services across NHS Tayside. The photo above is of Barry Jenkins, Deputy Chief Executive of NHS Tayside and Anne Cavanagh, Primary Care Link Worker who discussed the work of CLWs in GP practices across the region.

Over the years the team has developed a GP practice resource promoting services where self-referrals are accepted. The pack has been re-named Dundee Community Resource Pack when it goes to services out with the GP practice and it can be sent to any service which is interested in helping their clients to access support directly.

They have been responding to requests from a GP practice that has had changes of staff to deliver training to the reception team focusing on triaging patients to Sources of Support and how to use their GP resources pack. If the training is successful, they will roll this out to other GP practices.

And finally, Laura Campbell, one of the teams link workers recently co-facilitated a teaching session to 20 students from Dundee University Social Medicine Society promoting the benefits of social prescribing. This builds on the team's work Dundee University medical students. Laura has also created a feedback sheet which helps reflect the learning of medical students when they sit in on link worker consultations.

New community link worker in Stromness!

A warm welcome to Donna Cuthbertson who will be joining Erika and Linsey on the Orkney CLW team. She will be working alongside Stromness surgery in Orkney. Donna will be working 12 hours a week and we all wish her the best of luck in her new role.

Inverclyde CLWs getting into the festive spirit!

Inverclyde CLWs have published their latest newsletter on Twitter. You can catch up regularly on all their news via their Twitter feed and also their webpage A couple of their CLWs Heather and Cheyne (below) were visiting Parklea Branching Out project recently and were lucky enough to view the first of their Christmas Fayres!

Other News

National framework for social prescribing in Wales

The Welsh Government launched its national framework for social prescribing. The National Framework was launched at an online event on 7 December during which delegates heard about social prescribing developments including a glossary of terms for social prescribing in Wales as well as a competence framework for social prescribing practitioners. We hope that there will be some useful learning from Wales' experience that we can use to support the development of a framework in Scotland.

Health Foundation article on impacts of debt on health and wellbeing

The Health Foundation has published an article on how debt can affect health and wellbeing during a cost of living crisis. The article highlights that people in problem debt are three times more likely to report that their health is 'bad' or 'very bad'.

Report into health inequalities, multimorbidity and primary care in Scotland

The report, published in the Royal College of Physicians' Future Healthcare Journal, looks at recent evidence for whether the ambition of the new GP contract, introduced in 2018 to reduce health inequalities, is being achieved.

NHS 24 winter preparedness campaign

NHS 24’s winter campaign 'Healthy Know How' was launched on 29 November by Michael Matheson MSP, Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care. The campaign reminds people who rely on repeat prescriptions to check they have enough to last over the holidays and to reorder in plenty of time. People are also reminded that GP opening times will be affected by the festive holidays and to make sure they have cold and flu remedies in, just in case. NHS 24 is encouraging organisations to share its messages and download its campaign toolkit.

Let's Be Heard: sharing Scotland's Covid experience

Let's Be Heard allows people affected by the devolved strategic response to Covid in Scotland to participate in the Scottish Covid-19 inquiry by sharing their own experiences of the pandemic. It is the main way in which people can contribute to the inquiry's investigations and help inform its reports and recommendations. Everyone who was in Scotland between 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2022, or was affected by decisions made in Scotland during this time, is being invited to share their experiences of the pandemic. For more information on how you can still participate, email the inquiry team.

Scottish Health Survey 2022 results published

The Scottish Government has published results from the Scottish Health Survey 2022, providing information on the health and factors relating to health of people living in Scotland.

Museums Galleries Scotland focus on wellbeing

Museums Galleries Scotland have written a blog focusing on health and wellbeing. The blog looks at the kind of activities that museums and galleries are hosting to support the wellbeing of their local communities.

Scotland’s first dedicated self-harm strategy and action plan published

The Scottish Government has published Scotland’s first dedicated self-harm strategy and action plan. The plan, published in response to a government initiated question, runs from 2023-27 and is jointly owned by the government and COSLA. The strategy has three priorities: to embed compassionate understanding of self-harm to tackle stigma and discrimination, to build person-centred support and services across Scotland, and to improve and share data and evidence to drive improvements in services responses.

Framework published for primary care mental health

The Scottish Government has published an outcomes and measures framework for mental health and wellbeing in primary care, intended to demonstrate the system and people benefits associated with mental health in primary care provision.

Delivery plan published for suicide prevention

The government has also published a year one (2023-24) delivery plan for Scotland’s Suicide Prevention Strategy. The delivery plan sets out the methods to ensure progress towards achieving the short-term outcomes identified in the outcomes framework and the priorities set out for year one. Responsibility for delivery of this plan lies jointly with the government and COSLA.

Consultation launched on proposed Wellbeing and Sustainable Development Bill

The Scottish Government has published a consultation paper to help inform the scope of the proposed Wellbeing and Sustainable Development Bill. The consultation will run until 14 February 2024. The bill aims to further improve decision making and the implementation of the National Performance Framework to ensure policy and delivery is focused on increasing the wellbeing of people in Scotland and to put people and the planet at the centre of the Scottish economy.

Survey launched to map social prescribing across Scotland

The Scottish Social Prescribing Network (SSPN) has launched a survey to map what social prescribing looks like across Scotland. The SSPN wants to hear from any organisation that provides a social prescribing service. The survey will be open for organisations to complete until the end of the year.