Volunteering England is today urging the Department of Health, and health and social care managers to involve volunteers more effectively in their organisations and encourage their own staff to volunteer, in response to the challenges raised by the Commission on the Future of Volunteering.
Sheila Hawkins, Head of Health and Social Care at Volunteering England, praised the scope of the research and welcomed the recommendation that volunteering should be seen as an important part of an individual’s career path, enabling them to make better-informed decisions and strengthening recruitment into the health and social care workforce.
She also welcomed the recommendation that Health and Social Care regulators should include the contribution of volunteers in their assessment of an organisation’s delivery of services. However, she warned that improving access to volunteering should not come at the expense of service user safety.
Sheila Hawkins said:
“It is very encouraging that the Commission has acknowledged the vital importance of volunteers to the health service and public sector and we particularly welcome the proposals for volunteer managers and public sector staff who work alongside volunteers to receive targeted training. The NHS must lead by example, both by involving volunteers appropriately at every level and encouraging employee volunteering. Through embedding volunteering deep in the culture of our public services it becomes easier to show the public that volunteering can become a part of everyday life.
“While we would support efforts to address the bureaucratic barriers to volunteering, it is also important to recognise the positive reasons for thorough checks in order to protect service users. Increasing access to volunteering is an important goal, but it should not be achieved at the expense of the safety or patient care.”
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Case study
Baroness Audrey Emerton
I have been a volunteer in St John Ambulance for 60 years, starting as a Cadet at the age of 11, which was excellent preparation for a career in the nursing profession thanks to the basic skills and First Aid techniques I had learnt. As an adult, volunteering has enabled me to share my professional skills in a voluntary project caring for vulnerable and elderly people. I have also been able to put my leadership and managerial skills to use in developing a major national voluntary organisation, with which I have continued to volunteer in my retirement.
I believe volunteers provide an untapped wealth of skills that Government should utilise in improving the quality of life of patients and the general public. Health managers should include volunteers as a necessary part of the health care team and demonstrate their value both in patient care and through providing support for professional healthcare workers. This can only be achieved by investing in the management of volunteers, and educating staff that volunteers are there to add extra quality to the service, and not as a replacement for paid employment.
Notes to editors
- For more information or interviews with Sheila Hawkins, please contact Cat Dean on 020 7520 8932 or email cat.dean@volunteeringengland.org. For out of hours enquiries contact Sonya Roberts on 07952 128 057
- Volunteering England aims to improve the quality, quantity, impact and accessibility of volunteering throughout England. For more information please visit www.volunteering.org.uk
- The Volunteering England Convention Transforming Passion into Power: Volunteering at the heart of social change is being held on 23-25 April 2008. Make sure the dates are in your diary. For regular updates, www.volunteering.org.uk/convention
