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Last Thursday (14th March) was International Social Prescribing Day and we brought you a short series of podcasts to recognise this. Last week we gave you social prescribing ambassador Marie-Anne Essam. This week it is the turn of Christiana Melam who is Chief Executive of the National Association of Link Workers; the national professional network for link workers. In this episode Christiana describes what the National Association does, outlines the roles and responsibilities of the link worker and suggests what primary care networks should be doing now to prepare for this role.

Show Notes

Christiana explains how her own life led to her role with link workers (1:02)

Social prescribing and general practice (1:47)

The National Association of Link Workers (2:46)

Mending the fragmentation (3:26)

What is a link worker? (4:44)

The difference between care navigation and link working (5:27)

The typical background of a link worker (6:22)

Competency framework and the qualities of a link worker (7:15)

The skills and training for a link worker (8:57)

How a link worker works (10:14)

What should networks do for the link worker to be a success (11:27)

With whom should networks be making links? (13:01)

The role of the STP (13:52)

Further information (14:33)

The website Christiana refers to is here