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King’s Fund calls for strategic approach to volunteering to support NHS recovery
The NHS Long Term Plan and the most recent NHS workforce plan recognise and commit to maximising the value of volunteers, and COVID-19 has further highlighted the huge potential and contribution of volunteers. The King’s Fund is calling for a more inclusive approach, to help maximise the potential opportunities. Volunteering played a key role in the initial response to the pandemic and the NHS Volunteer Responders programme saw a record number of people register to volunteer to support the communities the NHS serves. However, the King’s Fund points out that, in all but a minority of NHS Trusts, volunteering was suspended, decimating volunteering capacity. Two years on from the initial lockdown,
many Trusts are faced with decisions on how to bring back volunteers. As organisations seek to ‘build back better’, the King’s Fund says there is now an opportunity to consider the role of volunteers in the NHS and for Trusts to develop a strategic approach. Research from the King’s Fund has found evidence of support for volunteering in all acute and ambulance Trusts, and in the majority of specialist, mental health, and community Trusts. However, it also identified that current approaches to volunteering and recruiting volunteers mean that volunteering in NHS Trusts is currently unlikely to be open to everyone and Trusts may be contributing to ongoing inequalities in volunteering, restricting the recruitment of volunteers who are representative of their local communities. This means that Trusts miss out on benefiting from the resources and skills that exist within those communities. How can a strategic approach to volunteering in NHS Trusts add value? provides a framework for senior leaders
to use to understand their Trust’s current approach to volunteering, and offers a practical way of identifying how to move from volunteering as an ‘added extra’ to it making an integral contribution to the delivery of healthcare. The report states that, to maximise the impact of volunteers, Trusts need to shift thinking from ‘what can volunteers do’ to being clear about the purpose of volunteering and where volunteers can add value, thereby setting a strategic direction for developing and supporting volunteer roles that can have greater impact. To maximise diversity and inclusion in volunteering, the report also recommends: l Considering how pathways into volunteering and selection and management processes affect who volunteers, their retention and contribution.
l Providing support for youth volunteering – youth volunteering can set a pattern for life-long volunteering and adaptations to support young people can benefit volunteers more widely.
l Supporting volunteers from more marginalised groups – understanding cultural factors, motivations to volunteer, and opportunities and addressing barriers to volunteering to increase recruitment of volunteers who are representative of the local communities.
The King’s Fund also points out that there is no national data on the number of people who volunteer for NHS Trusts, the roles they play and their contribution in time or value. This lack of data can make it difficult to develop long-term strategies to maximise potential, and to allocate resources where they are most needed. Alongside the report, the King’s Fund has also published Adding value through volunteering in NHS Trusts, which explores ways in which volunteering can have a positive impact. It shares good practice and learning from Trusts that have taken a strategic approach to developing volunteering. The report also highlights how people’s expectations of volunteer roles are changing: the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust told the King’s Fund: “Roles have grown from flower arranging and tea and coffee-making to working alongside paid members of staff. Volunteers are unpaid but not unskilled and can do something more meaningful. The volunteer skill base can be enhanced but also not to the level where they are substituting a job – they add something different. Volunteers’ own skills can be utilised and promoted. Generally, it’s about being more trusting and more adaptable. COVID-19 has shown what volunteers can do.” To download the reports, visit:
www.kingsfund.org.uk/ publications/adding-value-strategic-vision- volunteering-nhs-trusts
JUNE 2022
WWW.CLINICALSERVICESJOURNAL.COM l
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