Lucy is looking forward to her new Social Prescribing role
Congratulations to Lucy Lynch who is looking forward to her new role as a Social Prescriber, helping patients with physical, social and lifestyle issues.
Social prescribers are a relatively new role in healthcare, offering help on issues including smoking cessation, weight loss, coping with isolation, anxiety or financial difficulties. Social prescribers assess patients' problems and signpost them to the best source of help and advice, whether that is medical, or to external agencies such as community projects, charities or specialists, including the Citizen's Advice Bureau, Crisis or Mind.
Lucy, who has been a receptionist at Hereward for seven years, is ideally qualified as she is already helping bereaved people and running the 'Difficult Day' scheme through the practice, so her new role will allow her to extend her skills while keeping the face to face contact with patients that she enjoys.
She will be working with Bourne and Stamford patients through the Four Counties Primary Care Network. She starts her new role in September and will receive full training. The Care Quality Commission has commented positively on the impact that social prescribing has made in other Lakeside practices, where services include arranging group health walks, and getting people involved in community projects including a gardening scheme.
Lucy said: 'I have been helping bereaved people for the last year, keeping in touch and getting them to the right places. I love working with older people, getting them out to groups if they are feeling isolated. This new role will be similar but will encompass many more issues and a much wider patient demographic. I am really excited, it will be a really good opportunity as I love helping people and can't wait to get started!