Nominator Nic Spiby-Roberts, Social Prescribing Coordinator, Salford CVS /The Big Life Group, says that as soon as COVID-19 hit, the team of Community Connectors (link workers) went straight to our communities highlighting the .gov guidelines, listening to participants fears and concerns and started to connect individuals and families to emergency support. Due to working out in the community and GP practices, our team were able to continue to work with patients from home causing no interruption in the support offer. We adapted our key messages to GPs to highlight how we could support shielded patients. We offer phone/online appointments, being a supportive, positive and calm contact for individuals in a state of worry or concern. Conversations focus on what that individual can control and their actions to stay safe and well in the coming weeks, which includes the use of telephone interpreter services for those that need them. We monitor and support individuals self-isolating though wellness checks, offering personalised plans to keep well. We mapped out local support to create a new temporary Salford profile during this time; we will continue to map this as activities are changing rapidly. We adapted the 5 Ways to Wellbeing, promoting online support and apps though ORCHA recommended apps. Over the course of lockdown, we have supported over 460 participants. Attached is a recent Q&A case study highlighting the impact the team have made and Dr Michelle Howarth from Salford University stated: ‘The Wellbeing Matters programme has gone from strength to strength. In these challenging times of Covid -19. The community connectors, through the Wellbeing Programme have made a real positive difference to people’s lives.’ They also employed a new Community Connector during lockdown, completing interviews online via Zoom and creating an induction plan online. Tom (not pictured) now has a caseload of 50 participants who he is having regular contact with and connecting to local support.
