Job Summary
33 days annual leave + bank holidays, Pension scheme. Listed in The Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2025.
We have an amazing opportunity for a Health Coaches to join Sunderland GP Alliance Ltd on a 12 months' Fixed-Term, Full Time basis.
As a Health & Wellbeing Coach you will work as a key part of the Primary Care Network PCN Multi-disciplinary team, you will consider the whole person in addressing existing issues and encouraging the proactive prevention of new illnesses, promoting lifestyle changes and adaptations.
Health Coaching revolves around using your motivational interviewing and coaching skill to support people with lower levels of patient activation to develop the knowledge, skills, and confidence to manage their own health and wellbeing whilst increasing their ability to access and utilise community support offers.
This is a new role as part of an existing team at SGPA where you will support a city-wide Waiting Well programme offering targeted support to targeted groups of patients waiting for surgery in Sunderland. This will involve delivering group sessions and 1-1 support to patients covering a range of health and wellbeing subjects to ensure patients are fit and fully prepared for surgery.
The post holder will be responsible for the collection of relevant health data and measures to feed into the wider project to evidence patient impact.
MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
* Health Coaches will manage and prioritise a caseload, in accordance with the health and wellbeing needs of their population through taking an approach that is non-judgemental, based on strong communication and negotiation skills, while considering the whole person when addressing existing issues. Where required and as appropriate, the Health Coach will refer people back to other health professionals within the PCN;
* Provide personalised and group support to individuals, their families, and carers to support them to be active participants in their own healthcare; empowering them to manage their own health and wellbeing and live independently through:
* Coaching and motivating patients through multiple sessions to identify their needs, set goals, and supporting patients to achieve their personalised health and care plan objectives;
* Providing interventions such as self-management education and peer support;
* Supporting patients to establish and attain goals that are important to the patient;
* Supporting personal choice and positive risk taking while ensuring that patients understand the accountability of their own actions and decisions, thus encouraging the proactive prevention of further illnesses;
* Working as part of the city wide social prescribing service to connect patients to community-based activities which support them to take increased control of their health and wellbeing;
* Increasing patient motivation to self-manage and adopt healthy behaviours;
* Work with patients with lower activation scores to understand their level of knowledge, skills and confidence (their "Activation" level), when engaging with their health and well-being and subsequently supporting them in shared decision-making conversations;
* Utilise health coaching skills to support people with lower levels of activation to develop the knowledge, skills, and confidence to manage their health and wellbeing, whilst increasing their ability to access and utilise community support offers; and
* Explore and support patient access to a personal health budget, where appropriate for their care & support
* Support & deliver group Consultations to enable patients to better understand their LTH conditions, how to manage it and encourage the patient agree to self-management goals, and creating a environment for individuals to access peer support
Role Specific Key Tasks
Education
* Promote health & wellbeing coaching, as part of the social prescribing team, across the PCN, Health & Social Care professionals and the wider system, including its role in self-management, addressing health inequalities and the wider determinants of health.
* Support the NHS national vaccination and screening programs by raising awareness.
* The role will require the promotion of key messages from the NHS and Public Health England around health and wellbeing.
* Work in partnership with all local agencies to raise awareness of Health Coaching and how partnership working can reduce pressure on statutory services, improve health access and outcomes and enable a holistic approach to care.
* Provide referral agencies with regular updates about Health Coaching, including training for their staff and how to access information to encourage appropriate referrals.
Referrals
* Receive and action referrals for Health Coaching via agreed systems.
* Manage and prioritise referrals appropriately.
* Redirect referrals, using the agreed protocols, to more appropriate PCN / MDT Team members or partner agencies.
* Be proactive in developing strong links with all local agencies to encourage referrals.
* Support referral agencies to provide appropriate information about the person they are referring.
* Provide appropriate feedback to referral agencies about the people they referred.
* Work closely within the MDT and with GP practices within the PCN to ensure that Health Coaching codes and data are inputting correctly to support system wide reporting and data analysis.
* Adhere to data protection legislation and data sharing agreements.
Personalised Support
* Listen to and talk with people and their families about 'what matters to me'.
* Be proactive in encouraging equality and inclusion, through connecting with diverse local communities, particularly those communities that statutory agencies may find hard to reach.
* Meet people on a one-to-one basis, making home visits where appropriate within SGPA policies and procedures.
* Give people time to tell their stories and focus on 'what matters to me'.
* Build trust and respect with the person, providing non-judgemental and non-discriminatory support, respecting diversity and lifestyle choices. Work from a strength-based approach focusing on a person's assets.
* Be a friendly and engaging source of information about health, wellbeing and prevention approaches.
* Help people identify the wider issues that impact on their health and wellbeing, such as debt, poor housing, being unemployed, loneliness and caring responsibilities.
* Help people maintain or regain independence through living skills, adaptations, enablement approaches and simple safeguards.
* Work with individuals to co-produce a simple personalised support plan to address the person's health and wellbeing needs, based on the person's priorities, interests, values, cultural and religious/faith needs and motivations.
* Identify what individuals expect from the groups, activities and services they are being connected to and what the person can do for themselves to improve their health and wellbeing.
* Where appropriate, physically introduce people to culturally appropriate community groups, activities and statutory services, ensuring they are comfortable, feel valued and respected. Follow up to ensure they are happy, able to engage, included and receiving good support.
* Where people may be eligible for a personal health budget, help them to explore this option as a way of providing funded, personalised support to be independent, including helping people to gain skills for meaningful employment, where appropriate.
Community Asset Development
* Provide a regular 'confidence survey' to community groups receiving referrals, to ensure that they are strong, sustained and have the support they need to be part of social prescribing.
* Support community groups and VCSE organisations to receive referrals
* Forge strong links with a wide range of local VCSE organisations, community and neighbourhood level groups, utilising their networks and building on what's already available to create a menu of diverse community groups and assets, who promote diversity and inclusion.
* Develop supportive relationships with local VCSE organisations, culturally appropriate community groups and statutory services, to make timely, appropriate and supported referrals for the person being introduced.
* Work collectively with all local partners to ensure community groups are strong and sustainable
* Work with commissioners and local partners to identify unmet diverse needs within the community and gaps in community provision.
* Encourage people who have been connected to community support through social prescribing to volunteer and give their time freely to others, building their skills and confidence and strengthening community resilience.
* Encourage people, their families and carers to provide peer support and to do things together, such as setting up new community groups or volunteering.
Collaborative working
* As part of the PCN multi-disciplinary team, build close working relationships with staff in GP practices within the local PCN, attending relevant MDT meetings, giving information and feedback on social prescribing.
* Seek advice and support from the referring GP to discuss patient-related concerns (e.g. abuse, domestic violence and support with mental health), referring the patient back to the GP or other suitable health professional if required.
* Work with established VCSE organisations and existing Link Workers to provide a robust and consistent approach to our Sunderland people.
* Explore ways of working and share good practice and learning across all social prescribing roles within the system.
Data Collection
* Encourage people, their families and carers to provide feedback and to share their stories about the impact of Health & Wellbeing Coaching on their lives.
* Work sensitively with people, their families and carers to capture key information, enabling tracking of the impact of Heath Coaching on their health and wellbeing.
Professional Development
* Work with GPs and/or line manager to undertake continual personal and professional development, taking an active part in reviewing and developing the roles and responsibilities.
* Adhere to organisational policies and procedures, including confidentiality, safeguarding, lone working, information governance, equality, diversity and inclusion training and health and safety.
* Work with the GP teams to access 'clinical supervision', where appropriate, to enable you to deal effectively with the difficult issues that people present.
Service Development
* Seek regular feedback about the quality of the service and impact of social prescribing on referral agencies.
* Work as part of the healthcare team to seek feedback, continually improve the service and contribute to business planning.
* Contribute to the development of policies and plans relating to equality, diversity and health inequalities.
Leadership
* Be a system leader in the development, delivery and education of social prescribing and health coaching, ensuring involvement where value can be added.
* Provide role coaching and mentoring for all staff where appropriate.
* Demonstrate an understanding of ,and contribute to, the workplace vision
* Have a proven commitment to improve quality within limitations of service
* Monitor professional progress, and with the support of supervisor, develop clear plans to achieve goals and maintain high standards of work
* Promote diversity and equality within the workplace and wider community and shall lead by example
Other
* Undertake any tasks consistent with the level of the post and the scope of the role, ensuring that work is delivered in a timely and effective manner.
Duties may vary from time to time, without changing the general character of the post or the level of responsibility.
Confidentiality
* In the performance of the duties outlined in this job description, the post-holder may have access to confidential information relating to patients and their carers, practice staff and other healthcare workers. They may also have access to information relating to the business of an organisation. All such information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential.
* Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers or the business of the organisation may only be divulged to authorise persons in accordance with the SGPA policies and procedures, and the protection of personal and sensitive data.
Health & Safety
The post-holder will assist in promoting and maintaining their own and others' health, safety and security as defined in the SGPA Health & Safety Policy to include:
* Identifying the risk involved in work activities and undertaking such activities in a way that manages those risks.
* Using appropriate infection control procedures and maintaining work areas in a tidy and safe way and free from hazards.
* Ensuring that all accidents are reported and investigated, and follow up action taken where necessary.
* Maintain all mandatory training.
Equality and Diversity
The post-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carers and colleagues to include:
* Acting in a way that recognizes the importance of people's rights, interpreting them in a way that is consistent with current legislation.
* Respecting the privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers and colleagues.
* Behaving in a manner which is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgemental and respects their circumstances, feelings, priorities and rights.
Quality
The post-holder will strive to maintain quality and will:
* Alert other team members to issues of quality and risk.
* Assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision.
* Contribute to the effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and team activities and making suggestions on ways to improve and enhanced the team's performance.
* Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients' needs.
* Effectively manage own time, workload and resources.
Communication
The post-holder should recognize the importance of effective communication within the team and will strive to:
* Communicate effectively with other team members, patients and carers and system partners and stakeholders
* Recognise people's needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly.
Job Types: Full-time, Fixed term contract
Contract length: 12 months
Pay: £31,156.70 per year
Application question(s):
* Do you have qualification or training in UKHCA Health coaching, or equivalent experience level 3 diploma or above – or working towards this.
Licence/Certification:
* Drivers licence and access to own vehicle (required)
Work Location: In person