Dr Montgomery’s story
"We were part of the initial evaluation that showed the enormous benefits that Link Workers provide."
Community Link Workers (CLW) are absolutely vital to the smooth running of our general practice. They are embedded in our team, which is essential to allow them to form close working relationships with the clinical and admin staff, but also for the patients to have a greater awareness of them and know how to access them directly.
The frustration that all deep end clinicians had in general practice, before the introduction of Link Workers, was that patients would commonly come in for a multi agenda consultation – half of which would have a social dimension which we knew was at the root cause of many of the problems they were facing – and which we could either do nothing about or did not know what was out there to help them. Now the Link Workers have provided that invaluable bridge so that when patients present with multiple concerns, I now know that I have someone I can take the social dimension to, and they are able to provide the help and support so greatly needed.
Our practice was one of the original pilot projects, so we’ve got a lot of experience with the CLW programme. We were part of the initial evaluation that showed the enormous benefits that Link Workers provide. Our CLWs have been with us for many years, and they are much more familiar with, and involved in, community projects than we are as clinicians. They help to inform us of what’s out there, which in turn when patients come to us, we now know that there are resources out there for them to access. There is a list as long as your arm in terms of the things that they can refer patients to; food banks, housing, finance and benefits are only a few.
Our practice is a safe space for our patients to access and so having a CLW literally in the practice allows me to go to them at the end of my consultations and refer any patients to them, who I feel would benefit from their support. If they were not embedded in the practice, the take up would be considerably less than it is just now because they are part of our team, the patients trust them, and they are more likely to engage when they are conveniently located in a familiar setting. It also alleviates the barriers that some people may feel if they were to access an external service. If we can provide it all under one roof, it broadens the support we can provide.
The impact it has on people in the community is enormous. If I use the benefits system as an example, most clinicians have little or no knowledge of how the system works, apart from the fact that it is extremely complex and difficult to navigate your way through it. Being able to refer our patients to someone who can help them with their finances, look at spending and budgeting, refer them to agencies like Money Matters, and who can guide them through the benefits process, it is life changing for some of our patients. The support from the CLWs can be a real lifeline to many people in our community.
Looking to the future of the Community Link Worker programme, it is vital that funding is secured long term. We lost one of our Link Workers, who had been with us from the start, because she did not have job security. It’s understandable – she had a mortgage to pay and because she was on a rolling contract, she had to move to a role with more job security. Link workers need to be given long term contracts that give them the security they deserve and there needs to be ring fenced funding to make sure that happens. We’re already seeing CLWs being lost in other areas across Greater Glasgow because Health and Social Care Partnerships are having to make cuts.
There needs to be a national programme, nationally funded with a training structure to ensure that there’s continued development and so that CLWs become a permanent feature of Deep End General Practice. And that is the most fundamental thing that needs to happen. Otherwise, we’re going to lose staff or have really excellent staff who are constantly in fear of their jobs and work day to day not knowing how long it’s going to last. Security of funding, security of training and ring fenced funding is what’s needed to ensure this absolutely vital service thrives and continues to support the people in our communities in the years to come.
Dr Montgomery’s story is part of the latest Humans of Scotland publication – Community Links Worker Edition. The book is available to read here.
Read all Humans of Scotland stories here.
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