Job summary
Burgess Hill & Villages PCN is looking to employ a Children and Young People's Social Prescriber on either a full time or part time basis. This exciting role is an integral part of the Primary Care team, and as such, the successful post holder will continue to work as part of our current CYPSP service, as well as having the responsibility for collecting user feedback and adapting the role to suit the needs of the users in line with the Thrive model.
The role is primarily to work with children and young people aged up to 19 years (up to 24 years old for users with Learning Difficulties) but may also involve work with their parents/carers. You will work closely with the GP practices, schools and colleges (if required) and a range of established services to provide a range of support for children, young people and their families and deliver the appropriate level of support at the right time.
Main duties of the job
Social prescribing empowers people to take control of their health and wellbeing through referral to a non-medical link worker who gives time, focuses on what matters to me and takes a holistic approach, connecting people to community groups and statutory services for practical and emotional support. Link workers support existing groups to be accessible and sustainable and help people to start new community groups, working collaboratively with all local partners. Social prescribing can help to strengthen personal and community resilience and reduces health inequalities. It addresses the wider determinants of health, such as debt, poor housing, and physical inactivity, by increasing peoples active involvement with their local communities.
About us
About Alliance for Better Care CIC
Alliance for Better Care (ABC) is a GP Federation uniting 77 NHS GP member practices across 98 sites within 24 Primary Care Networks in Sussex and Surrey. We support our Primary Care colleagues and their patients to transform how healthcare is delivered in their communities.
We work closely with GP Practices, PCNs, Hospitals, Community Organisations, and the Third Sector. These vital partnerships enable us to deliver a truly integrated approach that offers the support and expertise needed to effectively serve our populations.
About Burgess Hill and Villages PCN
Burgess Hill and Villages Primary Care Network is an NHS collaboration between four GP practices - Brow Medical Centre, Meadows Surgery, Mid Sussex Health Care and Silverdale Practice - working together to provide enhanced access services.
Our surgery teams work closely, sharing expertise and resources to develop new services. Our vision is to continue to improve the quality of care that we provide in alignment with the needs of our patient population.
Our PCN builds on the existing primary care services and enables a greater provision of proactive, personalised and more integrated health and social care. We are supported by practitioners in additional roles who allow us to create bespoke multi-disciplinary teams based on the needs of our local population. By working together with local community services, this allows us to make support available to people where it is most needed.
Details
- Date posted: 17 August 2026
- Pay scheme: Other
- Salary: £27,496.89 to £34,188.93 a year pro rata, depending on experience
- Contract: Permanent
- Working pattern: Full-time, Part-time
- Reference number: B0141-26-0071
- Job locations: Hurstpierpoint Health Centre, Trinity Road, Hurstpierpoint, Hassocks, West Sussex, BN6 9UQ, United Kingdom, The Health Centre, Windmill Avenue, HASSOCKS, West Sussex, BN6 8LY, United Kingdom, Ditchling Health Centre, Lewes Road, Ditchling, HASSOCKS, West Sussex, BN6 8TT, United Kingdom, The Brow Medical Centre, The Brow, Burgess Hill, West Sussex, RH15 9BS, United Kingdom
Job responsibilities
- Provide personalised support to children and young people aged up to 19 years (up to 24 years old for users with Learning Difficulties) to enable them to take control of their wellbeing, live independently and improve their health outcomes.
- Accept referrals from a wide range of agencies including GP practices within primary care networks.
- Signpost young people and their families to appropriate community-based services after they have been assessed by a BHV PCN GP.
- Meet young people on a one-to-one basis and give them time to tell their stories and focus on what matters to me. Build trust with the person, providing non-judgemental support, respecting diversity, and lifestyle choices. Work from a strength-based approach focusing on a persons assets.
- Offer between 1 and 6 sessions for up to an hour, face-to-face or virtual and offer follow up where needed.
- Co-produce a personalised support plan to improve health and wellbeing, introducing, connecting, and supporting young people to community groups and statutory services.
- Help young people identify the wider issues that impact on their health and wellbeing, such as debt, poor housing, being unemployed, loneliness and caring responsibilities.
- Form links with local Schools and other community enterprises.
- Work closely with established services such as YMCA and the school-based mental health support teams, as well as the Childrens community health provider, in order to ease cross referral processes and provide the post holder with peer support.
- Provide earlier intervention whilst waiting or avoiding the need to wait for triage from other services.
- Have a good understanding of and utilise the THRIVE delivery model in sessions, which conceptualises the mental health and wellbeing needs of children, young people and families in terms of five different needs-based groupings: getting advice, getting help, getting more help, getting risk support, and thriving.
- Work closely and communicate with other agency partners such as schools, Community Development Workers, Local Area Coordinators, Targeted Youth Service and Family Support Teams when necessary to ensure the local system is working in a joined-up way to provide the young person(s) with holistic care.
- Where necessary, physically introduce people to community groups, activities, and statutory services, ensuring they are comfortable. Follow up to ensure they are happy, able to engage, included and receiving good support.
- Work sensitively with young people to capture key information, enabling tracking of the impact of social prescribing on their health and wellbeing.
- Encourage young people to provide feedback and to share their stories about the impact of social prescribing on their lives.
- Manage and prioritise your own caseload, in accordance with the needs, priorities and support required by individuals on the caseload.
- Work closely with the safeguarding lead to ensure any issues and concerns are escalated and dealt with quickly and effectively.
- Refer young people back to other health professionals/agencies, when their needs are beyond the scope of the link worker role e.g., when there is a mental health need requiring a qualified practitioner.
- Build relationships with key staff in GP practices within the local Primary Care Network (PCN), attending relevant meetings, becoming part of the wider network team, giving information and feedback on social prescribing.
- Organise and help support weekly MDTs (multi-disciplinary team).
- Be able to work flexibly in-hours and out of hours.
- Support the Primary Care Network in reducing inequalities by proactively seeking engagement from Children and Young People who may require early intervention and support.
- Participate in regular clinical supervision with a GP.
Benefits
- Generous annual leave allowance
- Access to NHS pension
- Bespoke training programme
- Cycle to Work Scheme
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Enhanced maternity pay
- NHS discounts
- Leadership Development Programme
- Salary sacrifice schemes technology and electric vehicle
- Opportunities for secondments
Study Leave/Training
There are opportunities for a study leave allowance.
Supervision
Regular supervisions on a one-to-one basis including an annual formal appraisal are held with a line manager. If you are in a patient-facing role, you will also receive regular Clinical Supervisions with a Clinical Supervisor.
Induction Programme
You will receive an in-depth induction programme and will be invited to a face-to-face induction day within your first week to give you relevant information about the organisation and your job role.
For further information, please see the full job description.
Person specification
Experience
Essential
- Experience of working with a range of professionals including senior clinicians
- Experience of working with children and young people or directly in a community development context, childrens health and social care, learning support or public health/health improvement (including unpaid work)
- Experience of supporting people, their families and carers in a related role (including unpaid work)
- Experience of working with the VCSE (Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise) sector (in a paid or unpaid capacity), including with volunteers and small community groups
- Experience of partnership/collaborative working and of building relationships across a variety of organisations
Desirable
- Experience of working within a primary care setting
- Experience of supporting people with their mental health, either in a paid, unpaid or informal capacity
- Experience of data collection and providing monitoring information to assess the impact of services
Qualifications
Essential
- NVQ Level 3 Health and Social Care, or equivalent qualifications, or working towards
- Demonstrable commitment to professional and personal development
Desirable
- Training in motivational coaching and interviewing, or equivalent experience
Other Requirements
Essential
- Meets DBS reference standards and has a clear criminal record, in line with the law on spent convictions
- Willingness to work flexible hours when required to meet work demands
- Access to own transport and ability to travel across the locality on a regular basis, including to visit people in their own homes
- Champion of equality and valuing diversity
- Operates at all times in line with Confidentiality and Data Protection Act
Skills & Knowledge
Essential
- Understanding of the wider determinants of health, including social, economic and environmental factors and their impact on communities
- Knowledge of community development approaches
- Knowledge of IT systems, including ability to use word processing skills, emails and the internet to create simple plans and reports
- Knowledge of motivational coaching and interview skills
Desirable
- Knowledge of the personalised care approach
- Knowledge of VCSE and community services in the locality
Personal Qualities & Attributes
Essential
- Ability to listen, empathise with people and provide person-centred support to children and young people
- Able to get along with people from all backgrounds and communities, respecting lifestyles and diversity
- Commitment to reducing health inequalities and proactively working to reach people from all communities
- Able to support people in a way that inspires trust and confidence, motivating others to reach their potential
- Ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, with people, their families, carers, community groups, partner agencies and stakeholders
- Ability to identify risk and assess/manage risk when working with children and young people
- Have a strong awareness and understanding of when it is appropriate or necessary to refer people back to other health professionals/agencies, when what the person needs is beyond the scope of the link worker role e.g. when there is a mental health need requiring a qualified practitioner
- Able to work from an asset-based approach, building on existing community and personal assets
- Able to provide leadership and to finish work tasks
- Ability to maintain effective working relationships and to promote collaborative practice with all colleagues
- Commitment to collaborative working with all local agencies (including VCSE organisations and community groups). Able to work with others to reduce hierarchies and find creative solutions to community issues
- Ability to organise, plan and prioritise on own initiative, including when under pressure and meeting deadlines
- High level of written and oral communication skills
- Ability to work flexibly and enthusiastically within a team or on own initiative
- Understanding of the needs of small volunteer-led community groups and ability to support their development
- Knowledge of and ability to work to policies and procedures, including confidentiality, safeguarding, lone working, information governance, and health and safety
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for CYP Social Prescriber Burgess Hill PCN with Alliance for Better Care CIC in Hurstpierpoint Health Centre; The Health Centre; Ditchling Health Centre; The Brow Medical Centre, United Kingdom. The advertised salary is £27496.89 to £34188.93. The contract type is Permanent. The application deadline is 31 Aug 2026.
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