NALW response to the NHS 10-Year Plan: A welcome ambition — now clarity and realism are needed

NALW response to the NHS 10-Year Plan: A welcome ambition — now clarity and realism are needed

The National Association of Link Workers (NALW) welcomes the bold ambition set out in the NHS 10-Year Plan, particularly its focus on prevention, tackling health inequalities, and shifting care closer to communities. These priorities align with the NHS social prescribing model, which begins with the workforce: social prescribing link workers (SPLWs), rolled out in 2019 as a professional healthcare intervention designed to address unmet patient needs, complexity, personalise care, increase patient choice, bridge medical and non-medical determinants, and deliver multi-disciplinary team-coordinated improvements in access, experience, and outcomes.

However, moving from vision to delivery requires clarity on how social prescribing will be embedded in this future NHS. It is vital that we build on the successful rollout of SPLWs into the NHS, addressing teething issues and ensuring SPLWs are recognised and supported as a core part of the NHS professional workforce, reflecting their vital role in bridging medical and non-medical care, and in delivering the personalised, community-focused care this plan envisions. By the nature of their role, SPLWs already bridge the gap between medical and social determinants of health, working across sectors and professional boundaries. They are uniquely placed to contribute to the NHS’s ambitions. With longer patient contact, flexibility, and downstream and upstream healthcare insights, SPLWs are well positioned to support both digital and face-to-face innovations of the plan.

NALW’s priorities for implementation (NHS Social Prescribing Workforce Model)

• Include SPLWs in NHS workforce planning, with clear career pathways and parity of esteem with other roles. Enable and encourage a one team approach!
• Define the NHS’s approach to prevention and social determinants of health, setting realistic boundaries, focus, resources and expectations.
• Recognise SPLWs as a distinct, professional and essential healthcare workforce and commit to national educational standards, ethical frameworks, and mandate accreditation (as highlighted in NALW’s publications) to ensure safe, high-quality, and standardised practice.
• Invest in SPLW recruitment, ongoing professional development, supervision, and wellbeing — matching the scale of expectation to the scale of investment.

NALW stands ready to work with the NHS and Government to ensure this vision translates into meaningful and sustained improvements for patients and communities. Getting the conditions right will be critical to success.