More than 2,000 people were helped by a community link worker in Edinburgh in the last year, with clients involved in the programme seeing a ‘significant’ wellbeing improvement.

The majority of referrals – two-thirds – were to help with mental health and social isolation, a new report from the Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations’ Council (EVOC) reveals.

Published today to mark National Link Worker day, the report says covid led to a slight drop in the number of clients from April 2019 to March 2020 but shows a wide range of Edinburgh residents benefitted from help.

EVOC deputy chief executive Ian Brooke said he was “delighted” to unveil the report.

“The network goes from strength to strength working with thousands of people across the city who originally approached their GP looking for support – and that support exists in the 400 voluntary and community organisations that received referrals during the year,” he said.

“Link workers have had to flex their approach during the COVID pandemic, but continue to change people’s lives and we look forward to future years building upon what we learn every day works.”

Link workers are embedded in GP practices and can direct people towards non-medical support groups, charities and advice.

Currently the Scottish government funds these staff in GP practices in deprived areas across the country.

Earlier this year GPs in Edinburgh and Glasgow called for more practices to have community workers and money advisors in their teams in preparation for the economic and mental health shocks of covid-19.

One of these GPs said their link worker had been “invaluable” and helped a “huge range” of patients during the pandemic.

In Edinburgh 40% of clients helped through the scheme were unemployed.

Most of the nearly 3,000 referrals to services recorded over the year came from GP practices, the most common onward referrals being for physical activity, mental health support, and social and community groups.

Overall this led to a ‘noticeable difference’ in mood when asked to score how they were doing mentally across a range of areas.

Though just over 100 people responded to this part of the survey, there was an average 28% increase in self-reported mental wellbeing.

During the pandemic link workers have switched to more over-the-phone support, including In Glasgow helping people on benefits overcome “bureaucratic walls” when trying to access welfare payments.

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