Surrey Physio provide social prescriber link workers in London and the South East.

Surrey Physio physiotherapists and social prescribing team have been providing social prescribing since February 2017, and this continues to be a large part of what we do.

Our link workers connect the dots between the Primary Care Network of GP practices, and the patient, making it a seamless patient journey for people to seek social support and help.

What do Our Link Workers actually do?

Once we receive a referral from the GP, our team triage it and decide how best to act. That might involve a phone call to the patient, a face-to-face appointment, or a video-call. Our trained team establish the primary cause of the issues, or underlying problems, and sign-post patients to relevant organisations, charities, and groups in their local area. Follow-up calls are made with patients to ensure that they got the help they needed, or to advise further if more assistance is required. We support communities, vulnerable patients, and ethnic diversity. We encourage people to join groups and self-rehabilitate.

What Software do we Use?

We are developing our Rehab Me software, especially for this purpose, to allow the transition for the patient into social care. We track referrals, write reports, and follow up with patients. We manage a directory of services locally ensuring we know what support groups, exercise classes, and charity support is available in any particular area.

Examples of Problems that we Help

• Smoking cessation
• Obesity and weight loss
• Stress and anxiety
• Mental health
• Financial stress
• Alcohol and drug addiction
• Falls prevention and frailty
• Osteoarthritis
• Musculoskeletal pain

Community Events

At Surrey Physio, we love to integrate with our communities and to help out at community events. It gives us an opportunity to get to know our community better and to share our knowledge of health and fitness with local people.

Some of the events we have done include:

• Talks to schools.
• Community pop-in events.
• Career days at schools.
• Local group talks (e.g. Women’s Institute).
• Community walks and running events.

We have a brilliant, caring team who work so well to support local communities and offload pressure on GP surgeries. We help patients look after themselves.

For more information, please go to www.linkworker.co.uk