In this new briefing, explore the contribution of community-led health organisations and approaches to growing positive mental health and wellbeing at a time when mental health services are struggling to meet demand.
Read MoreReflecting on career supporting community-led health
/This article from Julie Fox explores her significant contribution to community-led health and the development of Annexe Communities in Partick as she begins her retirement. Everyone here at CHEX would like to say a hearty congratulations on all of her work, and best wishes for the future.
Read MoreListening, learning, and leading for change - Reflections from the CHEX Conference
/In this article, Ruth Glassborow, Director of Place and Wellbeing, Public Health Scotland shares her reflections following the CHEX Conference 2025 held in Stirling. Ruth acted as a ‘keynote listener’ during the day, hearing from conference attendees about carrying out their work supporting communities across Scotland.
Read MoreAdvancing Green Health Workshop – hosted by Public Health Scotland, Nature Scot and Greenspace Scotland
/CHEX were invited by Public Health Scotland, Greenspace Scotland and Nature Scot to contribute to a cross sectoral workshop in June to share the knowledge, skills and experience from our Network in the development of Green Health in Scotland.
Read MoreOut and About: East Kilbride & Strathaven Community Learning and Development Local Action Planning Group
/CHEX was pleased to be asked along to present at the March 2025 East Kilbride & Strathaven Community Learning and Development Local Action Planning Group meeting in East Kilbride.
Read MoreOut and About: Farmstrong Scotland
/Farmstrong Scotland is a new rural wellbeing programme for the farming and crofting sector. Following their participation at the CHEX Ideas Clinic Sarah met their community engagement specialist, Clare, to find out more about their work.
Read MoreCHEX Influencing Policy & Practice – CPG on Volunteering
/Earlier this year Sarah was invited by Volunteer Scotland to provide an input to the Cross-Party Group on volunteering on volunteering in an empowered community.
Read MoreThe Scottish Community Link Worker Network – giving a voice to Scotland’s Community Link Workers
/In this blog, Roisin Hurst Scottish Community Link Worker Network Project Manager explores the vital role community link workers play as essential connectors between primary care, patients, and communities.
‘They ask what matters to you, not what is the matter with you.’
The quote above captures the person-centred approach that community link workers (CLWs) are taking every day to tackle health inequalities and support people to live healthier, happier lives.
Did you know that there are now over 300 CLWs working across Scotland? And approximately 80% of GP practices in Scotland now have access to a community link worker?
CLWs help patients navigate and engage with wider non-medical services and resources in their local area. They are a crucial cog in the primary care workforce and are the ‘essential connectors’ between primary care, patients and communities. Some of the key reasons for referral to a CLW include support for mental health, social isolation and loneliness, housing, trauma and financial issues.
To support CLWs in their role, Voluntary Health Scotland (with funding support from the Scottish Government’s Primary Care Directorate) established The Scottish Community Link Worker Network (SCLWN) in 2021. The Network and Community of Practice enables Scotland’s CLWs to meet, share good practice and benefit from peer support. Over the last 3 years the Network has rapidly expanded to become a thriving and active body of over 360 CLWs and programme leads.
Peer support
The Network brings together the CLWs regularly through its annual programme of online events including knowledge exchange and peer support events as well as consultations on different policy areas including adult mental health services and community and learning development. The highlight of the events calendar is the Network’s Annual Conference which brings CLWs together in-person to celebrate their work. This year’s SCLWN Conference - Health Hope and Healing will take place on 7 May 2025 in Glasgow and will feature the first awards ceremony to recognise Scotland’s CLWs and teams that have gone above and beyond for their communities.
The SCLWN is also proud to launch a series of films which showcases the vital and highly skilled work that CLWs do in their communities. The films feature interviews with CLWs, GPs and patients who have benefited from the CLW service. In one of the videos, Peter Cairns, a GP in Wester Hailes in Edinburgh, describes CLWs as ‘transformational to our practice’ and a ‘ray of light’ for vulnerable people. In another of the films, Neil, a patient who used the CLW service in Dundee, talks about the importance of being listened to by his CLW and how much his life has changed for the better.
Essential connections
Although no one seems to dispute the need for CLWs to support early intervention and prevention in our communities, the funding landscape for them continues to be an uncertain and challenging one. The majority of CLWs are employed by third sector organisations and since the Network’s establishment, a recurrent theme we hear from CLWs has been in relation to the lack of a clear national strategy for community link working and social prescribing; one that addresses longer-term financial sustainability for CLWs and the third sector organisations that both employ them and to whose services they refer their patients. VHS’s Essential Connections report published in 2023 explored the range and scope of community link working in Scotland. Following on from this groundbreaking research, we welcome Scottish Government’s national review of community link working in Scotland and look forward to seeing some positive outcomes from this in relation to providing long-term support to CLWs across Scotland.
In the meantime, the Scottish Community Link Worker Network continues to demonstrate the professionalism of community link workers and the positive impact they have on their patients’ lives as well as in their local communities and within primary care. We will continue to champion them and raise awareness of the vital and complex role they play in supporting patients, primary care and their local communities.
As one CLW said in our report,
‘We are not clinical but we are the missing link. Because GPs don’t have the time to do the community mapping and know everything that is out there in the community.’
For more information, please email SCLWN Project Manager Roisin Hurst.
Scottish Community Link Worker Network logo
. Turning knowledge into action: resources from the CHEX Conference 2025
/This year for our national conference our focus was turning knowledge and learning into action on the most pressing issues facing our communities.
Read MoreOut and about: Deep End GPs Student Conference
/Sarah was recently invited to provide an input on CHEX and community development approaches to tackling health inequalities at a Conference held in February by the Glasgow University General Practice Society in Ferguslie Park, Paisley.
Read MoreCHEX Conference 2025: Knowledge into Action
/On 12th March, more than 80 people from across the CHEX network came together in Stirling to learn and reflect about their work supporting their communities and tackling Scotland's health inequalities.
Read MoreResources roundup!
/Our resource hub is a one-stop shop for useful materials, including explainers on key topics, helpful infographics, and signposts to relevant policy, research and online tools.
Read MoreThe outrage of austerity
/In this blog, David Walsh and Gerry McCartney discuss the disastrous effects that austerity policies have had on life expectancy - exacerbating health inequalities and causing many people in our most vulnerable communities to lead shorter, less healthy lives.
Read MoreDisclosure Scotland publish consultation analysis report on fees discounts and waivers - what next?
/The report outlines key findings and is being used to inform the policy development on the future fees for Disclosure Scotland services.
Read MoreCHEX ideas clinic in December - roundup and useful links
/It was great to see so many people at our first ideas clinic online event! We had some great discussion and useful information- sharing, as well as making a space for people to access peer support from others in our sector.
Read MoreOut and about: Dundee Health and Wellbeing Networks
/Keeping up to date with what community led health organisations and practitioners are doing to improve people’s health and wellbeing is an important part of the job for the CHEX team.
One way that we are doing this is linking in with local and regional health and wellbeing networks across the country.
Read MoreTogether, we can rebuild it
/In this blog, Sarah Boath, Head of Programme for CHEX reflects on the challenging funding landscape, discussing the need to think of health and wellbeing services not as short-term projects to fund with money in a budget, but as a long-term investment of resources, time, skill and commitment.
Read MoreCHEX response: third sector funding principles call for evidence
/Fair and efficient funding and resourcing is an ongoing issue facing the community-led health sector and this policy response is part of the ongoing work of the CHEX team influencing policy in this area.
Read MoreJoin us for the first CHEX ideas clinic!
/We’re excited to announce that we’ll holding the first CHEX ideas clinic online event from 10am - 12pm on 5th December.
Read MoreOut and about: LGBT Health and Wellbeing
/The CHEX team out and about: Sarah was in Edinburgh, meeting with Michelle from LGBT Health and Wellbeing at their offices in Leith.
Read More