Abstract
The Links Worker Programme is built upon seven essential Primary Care Team Capacities—Team Wellbeing, Shared Learning, Awareness, Intelligence, Signposting, Problem Solving, and Network Building—and five central Links Approach objectives: Adapting to Diagnosis, Living Well Day to Day, Facing Challenges, Navigating Services, and Dying Well. Embedding Community Links Workers (CLWs) within Primary Care empowers General Practices to connect outwardly with their communities, addressing the social determinants of health that contribute to longstanding health inequalities.
Inclusion health refers to socially excluded individuals who face compounded risks like stigma, poverty, trauma, and discrimination. These barriers often prevent people in inclusion health groups from accessing needed care, resulting in poor health outcomes and shorter life expectancy. Social and environmental risk factors accumulate over time; for example, someone who is both homeless and facing addiction may experience amplified health challenges and reduced life opportunities. Early adversity further increases the likelihood of social exclusion and poor health, highlighting the need for a focused, systemic response to reduce healthcare inequalities.
The CLP serves as a bridge for General Practice, connecting patients to various community resources, such as Allied Health Professionals, Job Centres, social services, schools, employers, and housing providers. This support allows individuals to define their own care journeys, emphasising what matters to them based on their lived experiences. While medical models focus on treating health conditions, they often overlook the social factors that drive ill-health. The Links Worker Programme seeks to bring these factors to the forefront by listening to, learning from, and amplifying the voices of individuals they support. This approach fosters spaces that respect individual choice and prevents unmet needs from lingering throughout life.
Shared learning within the Links Worker Programme has sparked interest among GP practices and expanded through initiatives like the Deep End GP Steering Group, local GP Clusters, and city-wide collaborations. Workforce development is further supported by training and shadowing opportunities for pharmacy and medical students across different specialties. By navigating complex barriers, CLWs help patients find their own paths and take an active role in managing their health.
The ALLIANCE has been delivering this service for 10 years. It started as a pilot in 2014, the programme saw seven Community Links Practitioners start their journey working in seven Deep End GP practices across Glasgow. Over the past decade, the ALLIANCE now employs more than 80 Links Workers across Glasgow and West Dunbartonshire, as well as having a partnership with the Trussel Trust basing Links Workers in their foodbanks. We have also ventured on a new partnership with SGN, funding two Energy Efficiency Outreach Workers through the programme, equipping individuals with the skills and resources needed to tackle fuel poverty.
Audience:
- People with an interest in inclusion health.
- People with an interest in raising the voice of lived experience.
- People with an interest in collaboration across health and third sector.
Outcomes:
- Participants will have increased knowledge of health inclusion from a Scottish perspective
- Participants will have gained examples of involvement from those with lived experience.