Volunteers donate 100,000 hours to NHS Scotland in six months 

By Janice Malone, Programme Manager, Healthcare Improvement Scotland

Volunteers gave the equivalent of 4542 days to NHS Scotland - in a six month period. Between 1 October 2021 and 31 March 2022, volunteers in Scotland donated a total of 109,010 hours of their time to support others.

The figure was revealed in the Healthcare Improvement Scotland- Community Engagement NHSScotland Volunteering Programme Annual Report 2021-22, released to coincide with Volunteers’ Week, which runs from 1-7 June.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland is a national organisation focused on ensuring that everyone across the country has the best possible health and care. The organisation delivers the NHSScotland Volunteering Programme for the Scottish Government.

Helpforce have been working alongside Health Improvement Scotland on a number of volunteering projects during the last three years including End of Life, breastfeeding and are currently working on a discharge project in Tayside as part of the Back to Health Campaign.

Volunteers are involved in a huge range of activities to boost existing services, with roles including volunteer drivers, ward volunteers, meet and greet volunteers and vaccination centre helpers. The thousands of volunteers are supported by teams based from the country’s NHS boards.

Tom Steele, Chair, National Group for Volunteering in NHS Scotland, added: “In a year like no other for the health and wellbeing of the people of Scotland, a huge thank you to all NHSScotland volunteers. We are so very grateful for all that you do, especially in such challenging times.”

Ruth Jays, Director of Community Engagement at Healthcare Improvement Scotland, said: “Volunteering is a crucial part of NHSScotland and I would like to thank everyone who has donated their time for the benefit of others. Volunteers are the unsung heroes of NHSScotland, and now is the ideal time to recognise all that they do, in Volunteers’ Week.”

The report also highlights the good work which volunteers have done as restrictions have lifted following the pandemic, and how some of the practices which came into being can be of long-term benefit to NHSScotland.

Patient discharge was identified as a key area where volunteering may add value in future. In partnership with NHS Tayside, National Education Scotland (NES), Dundee Volunteer and Voluntary Action and Helpforce, a test of change project was established to find out if a discharge support volunteer role is effective.

The report also highlights the Volunteering Action Plan for Scotland, which aims to improve volunteering in Scotland through the five volunteering outcomes:

• Policy Impact

• Recognition and celebration

• Places and spaces

• Lifelong engagement

• Inclusive Volunteering.

NHSScotland Volunteering Programme Manager, Janice Malone, chairs the working group on Inclusive Volunteering. The group, which is made up of representatives from a variety of organisations, have looked at the current situation, reviewed it, and come up with recommendations to improve inclusive volunteering for Scotland over the next decade. The Volunteering Action Plan will be launched in June.

Ruth added: “The annual report sets out our strategy for the coming years, and has the potential to transform volunteering in health for the better. We are proud of the strategy and look forward to a future where the benefits of volunteering are more widely understood and recognised.”

To read the full report online, visit: https://www.hisengage.scot/equ...