Focused discussion: Community partnerships – the next steps

8 April 2025

Discussion Highlights

Top Tips

1. Invest time and energy into building relationships and you will reap the rewards.
2. Go out and see for yourself how a group works and what they can offer to gain a better understanding.
3. Networking is important. Set-up or join a Volunteer Coordinators Forum, make connections and share knowledge.
4. Link in with your social prescribers.
5. When setting up a partnership have a robust Memorandum of Understanding in place.
6. Scoping and mapping are crucial.
7. Promoting roles and services. You can find out a lot about community activities from local libraries. Go along to sessions at local community centres and churches. For example:

• Coffee and chat sessions
• Knit and Natter
• Gardening Clubs
• Shed Clubs
• Women’s Institute

NETWORK MEMBERS PROJECTS AND IDEAS

Hospitals sharing information with the community

Community ambassadors. Volunteers who hold positions such as teachers, doctors, pharmacists to act as a positive voice for the hospital, sharing information about things that are going well and that are good for the community.

Young people in hard-to-reach communities

Going into schools to talk to young people who are unlikely to consider working in a hospital. Talk to them about the variety of roles available and encourage them to volunteer to see for themselves if it’s the environment for them.

Increase awareness of cancer and screening

A two-year programme that will look at creating a self-sustaining environment.

The funding for this project will be shared across different voluntary organisations.

There may be challenges when working with a number of organisations of varying sizes which will include expectations and terms of reference so a steering group will be set up.

Health Champion Volunteers

As part of an initiative to reduce social isolation these volunteers will attend community hubs and have the skills and knowledge to signpost. This may start off as general health, but eventually particular health issues may be targeted.

Partnerships that work well

An ambulance Trust and RVS developed a new voluntary role supporting ambulance staff outside busy hospitals. It came at a time when they were experiencing long delays of up to eight hours for their staff outside A&E who were not being to access any kind of welfare and refreshment opportunities or just time to step away for a few minutes. Volunteers were brought in to provide refreshments and a chat.

Another Trust works closely with the charity arm of their local football club who do a lot of work on loneliness in the community.

There was not time to discuss one member's final question which was:

Where money is not involved, how do you get to an agreement where you are both getting something that’s mutually beneficial from the relationship?

Please feel free to add comments and continue the conversation.

For more top tips on Community Partnerships go to: Community Partners: Taking the first steps