by Danny McShane, Helena Richards and Ruth Wyatt
Danny is a Community Link Worker (CLW) employed by Pilton Community Health Partnership
I have been delivering CLW information sessions with Edinburgh Medical students over the past 4 years as the CLW from Bangholm Medical Centre in northwest Edinburgh. I believe one of the most valuable aspects of these sessions for students is that they provide three-dimensional real-life case study examples and discussions to stimulate the learning and reflection of the students.
It is an opportunity for students to learn about how the CLW service works for patients and staff in GP practices and this helps the students to reflect on their understanding of the issues faced by different patients beyond strictly medical issues.
Through the case studies, the sessions permit us to explore in practical real-life terms how we CLWs engage with and support patients to access community services. And also, how this can improve their health and quality of life. As a CLW I find it interesting to hear how the students engage with the case studies and issues involved and how they understand from the patient’s point of view. I always find our discussions very rewarding around the fundamental factors affecting patient health and well-being such as social isolation (and what happens if a patient has no support network), poverty, health inequalities, inadequate housing etc. Some students are very aware of these social issues and others less so, so it’s always helpful to have these conversations, made hopefully more engaging as they reflect typical examples from our experience.
I enjoy when the students ask searching and practical questions about our role within the practice, the key demographics of those we support and what services we enable patients to access to meet their needs. We get to talk about issues faced by for example carers, parents, those in substandard housing, those impacted by trauma, those on low income unaware of their welfare entitlements and how to access these. Each session with each new class of students is a little different, but I like to think that every session provides an excellent opportunity for them to learn more about the CLW service and why our CLW service is so uniquely placed to bring community support closer to the practice patients that really need it.
Helena is the Edinburgh Community Project Manager with Carr Comm
I’ve been participating in this innovative programme for the last 4 years, where groups of 1st-year medical students are introduced to both Community Link Workers and their host Third Sector Organisations (TSOs) to learn about health inequalities and some of the projects which deal with these issues daily. It’s been an interesting and worthwhile experience to play a part, including observing the difference in the starting points between students as they visit our organisation, hear about what we do, ask questions and then discuss a case study together.
However, by the end, they have usually all engaged in discussion about the social determinants of health and how they’re affecting patients at the local practices – and what we are doing to mitigate these effects. It’s great to meet them all, hear a bit from them and be part of a conversation about how life affects people in our communities, why that might be and how we as professionals can be part of making a difference, and how the relationship between medicine and community matters.
Ruth is the Senior Greenspace Officer at ELGT (Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust)
Over the years we have had the privilege of working with many medical students, from different backgrounds and walks of life. The main thing that comes to mind when working with these future medics, is that they all want a better outcome for the people they are going to be treating and working with, in lots of different ways. It’s fantastic to be able to present the work we do, getting them involved practically, where they can be part of a GP practice, get hands on experience of being a CLW and have the opportunity to experience the therapeutic programmes that are available out in communities too.
It’s a real pleasure to be able to develop relationships and build on the work these students have already done, to have the skills under their belts to be working within practices, getting them into the working life of a CLW and offering a unique experience that will broaden their ways of working for years to come. The long-term impacts these opportunities will bring play a huge part in treating people in a sustainable way moving forward.
As a third sector organisation, we are very grateful to get the chance to come together in this way, we are passionate about the communities we work with having access to quality local greenspaces, to help support their health and wellbeing. It allows us to promote this in a positive and practical way, which is only possible where you have all these services working together in collaboration. The connectedness is essential and it’s lovely to see them valuing this.
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