Assessment Process
The GP Link Worker will be assigned the case and will contact the Patient to arrange an appointment for an initial assessment. It may be at this point of the process that the Patient is no longer a ‘Patient’ and becomes a ‘Client/Person’. This is important to illustrate this on the Process Map.
The GP Link Worker assessment appointment can take approximately 60-90mins. An example of the Assessment Form can be found at Appendix 5. The GP Link Workers across Scotland have in majority adopted the ‘Outcomes Star’[1] evidence-based tool.
Part of the role of the GP Link Worker will be to assess the ‘readiness’ of the Person to be referred to the identified support group/provider the GP/Nurse has suggested. For some cases the person may require a period of time with the GP Link Worker to build confidence to attend a group, others may require an initial ‘soft-handover’ with the service provider e.g. the GP Link Worker attends with the Person at the first or first couple of visits before the Person feels confident to attend on their own steam.