Occupational Therapy News OTnews April 2019 | Page 13

NEWS
Link workers are a ‘trusted resource’ for occupational therapists to
work alongside, says Christiana Melam, the chief executive of the
National Association of Link Workers.
Link workers featured heavily in the NHS Long-Term Plan in
England, including a commitment from the government to fund 1,000
new posts as part of social prescribing projects. Scotland is also
recruiting 250 new link workers, while Northern Ireland and Wales are
also investing in social prescribing.
Says Christiana: ‘A link worker is a trusted resource that can help
multidisciplinary teams, including occupational therapists, deliver
seamless holistic services to patients. They work with people using
key skills of active listening, person-centred skills and empathy skills
to listen to them, identify solutions to build capability and resilience,
and help them to access solutions.
‘Together, meeting objectives like delivering personalised care and
moving to a social model of health is so much more achievable.’
Christiana describes link workers as ‘glue in the system’ to build
relationships for people with different organisations, with it being vital
that link workers have local intelligence to understand the different
community groups and assets available to work with.
She adds: ‘The people who are good at the job are really
passionate about giving something to their community; they are good
listeners, approachable and creative. No matter the qualifications you
have, you need to be approachable so people can relate and open
up to trust you.’
While much of the language around the emerging social
prescribing agenda will be familiar to occupational therapists,
Christiana differentiates the two professions by saying that link
workers are experts in connecting and linking, as opposed to
occupational therapists’ focus on interventions. ‘We’re talking about a
generalist link worker who is excellent at working with pathways and
making the right pathways. They can then escalate to other members
of the multidisciplinary team when it’s needed,’ she says.
Paul Cooper, RCOT professional adviser, said: ‘We are seeing
a fast expansion in link workers in the workforce and so if you
haven’t already worked with one, you are likely to do so soon. It is
encouraging that there is so much emphasis being placed on social
Make the most of the ‘trusted resource’ of link workers, says organisation boss
prescribing and I would urge members to do all they can to support
this area of work. 
‘Occupational therapists have a distinct role as experts in
occupations to promote health and wellbeing, as well as a profession
that can support link workers in local areas. RCOT would encourage
members to actively engage with local link workers, in particular
creating pathways for link workers to gain advice and refer on for
people with the most complex needs.’
New research by the NALW has found that the main reason the
vast majority of their 500-strong membership became link workers
was to contribute to their community. The research also found that
the biggest challenge in the role was a lack of resources.
For more information, visit: www.connectlink.org. For more on link
workers in social prescribing, see page 40.
For more information on the occupational therapy role in social
prescribing visit: www.rcot.co.uk/news/occupational-therapy-role-
social-prescribing. If you have a good example of work you are doing
with link workers to deliver social prescribing initiatives, please send it
to: [e-mail].
Quote of the month
The people who are good at the job are
really passionate about giving something
to their community.
Christiana Melam, NALW chief executive
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OTnews April 2019 13