Link's Worker Programme - Tackling Health Inequalities

One of the Scottish Government’s priorities is to address health challenges faced by deprived communities - how being born in, grow up in and age in, a deprived community can create complex medical conditions for those citizens, and impact on primary care provision.
Working with the Health and Social Care Alliance (the ALLIANCE) a new full-time specialist role, The community Link’s practitioner (CLP) was created to work with existing primary care teams and General Practitioners.
The CLP’s work with the primary care teams to interact with patients on a one-to-one basis, to help them to:
• Identify issues which negatively impact on their health and wellbeing
• To help them to address these issues by working with them to identifying solutions, which may not necessarily be clinical/medical in nature.
By supporting individuals in their lives, the CLPs also network with local community resources to develop their capacity and identify gaps in local service provisions. The CLPs are supported, and their work is enhanced by the ALISS Programme (A local information system for Scotland) which aims to;
• Increase availability of health and wellbeing information for citizens
• Support people, communities, professionals and organisations to share information

Through provision of both the Community Links Practitioners and the ALISS Programme, it is hoped that citizens can access services to help them address any health inequalities they are facing, enabling them to age well.