Helpforce launches a bold new three-year campaign – ‘Giving Back, Transforming Care’

At a pivotal moment for health services across the UK, Helpforce today launches its most ambitious campaign to date – aiming to ensure that volunteering is integral to the NHS’ recovery and ambitions to shift care closer to communities.

‘Giving Back, Transforming Care’ is a bold three-year initiative that sets out to shift the perception of healthcare volunteers from being a ‘nice to have' to a strategic imperative.

Inspired by the tens of thousands of people who give freely of their time and talents to show gratitude for care they or their loved ones have received in hospital or neighbourhood settings, the campaign will involve over 100 healthcare partners – including some of the nation’s biggest NHS trusts.

It will also build on Helpforce’s unrivalled database containing 450 evidenced outcomes from volunteering initiatives that target healthcare’s toughest challenges, including: improving patient flow; speeding up discharge; reducing missed appointments; preventing re-admissions; and tackling inequalities.

Helpforce Chief Executive, Amerjit Chohan, said:

“The Government’s narrative around the newly released NHS 10-Year Health Plan clearly recognises that volunteers have a pivotal role to play in getting the NHS back on its feet, especially in bringing care closer to home through neighbourhood health centres. However, we face a significant challenge: many healthcare organisations haven't yet embraced this vision or fully grasped the tremendous potential that volunteers bring in enhancing care and alleviating pressure on over-stretched staff.

“This disconnect means that volunteering remains insufficiently integrated into our healthcare system, potentially squandering a powerful resource that could help address health inequalities and systemic inefficiency.

“Giving Back, Transforming Care will seek to turn the tide on how healthcare volunteering is perceived by sharing evidence of how scaled-up solutions can deliver impressive productivity and financial gains, as well as measurable benefits for those giving and receiving care.

“We’ll also be highlighting an aspect that all too often gets overlooked – the immense benefits that volunteers themselves report; be it overcoming isolation, gaining confidence, learning news skills, or opening up potential healthcare career opportunities.”

The campaign will focus on three key fronts:

• Building powerful alliances with health organisations and charities to deliver system-changing programmes
• Advocating for substantial investment in healthcare volunteering from government, health organisations, and philanthropic funders
• Demonstrating the transformative impact volunteers have on healthcare systems – engaging healthcare leaders, policymakers and the wider public

Since it was founded in 2016 by Sir Tom Hughes-Hallett, Helpforce has firmly established itself as the only UK charity focussed solely on healthcare volunteering, developing a formidable reputation for driving innovation within the field.

One example of its varied initiatives is a ‘falls prevention’ programme that has been adopted by multiple NHS trusts. When patients are discharged from hospital and return to their homes after surgery or treatment, they are often vulnerable - especially those living alone. Susceptibility to falls is a major issue, with incidents not only causing suffering and distress to those affected, but hospital readmissions placing a major strain on over-stretched ambulance services, A&E departments and wards. The total annual cost of fragility fractures to the UK has been estimated at £4.4 billion [i] and studies have indicated that a tailored exercise programme can decrease falls in the over-65s by 54% [ii]. Helpforce has demonstrated that with specialist training and supervision, volunteers can support discharged patients with rehabilitation exercises in their own homes, freeing-up physiotherapists’ resource.

Another success is the charity’s trailblazing Volunteer to Career scheme which helps people transition from volunteering roles to frontline healthcare careers – helping to address the healthcare workforce crisis with the annual cost to the NHS of using agency and bank staff having risen to more than £10 billion [iii].

Proven at scale across 48 NHS organisations throughout England, Volunteer to Career has supported hundreds of people from all walks of life to secure permanent roles or training as healthcare assistants, mental health support workers, midwives, and assistant physiotherapists. Among those who’ve moved into to paid employment are former members of the armed forces community, refugees, over-50s, and single parents.

One of many volunteers supporting Giving Back, Transforming Care is Chetan Bhakri, from New Malden in south-west London. The 50-year-old, who works full-time as a software engineer, spends his Saturday and Sunday evenings reporting for volunteering duties at Kingston Hospital. He helps out in the hospital’s busy emergency department where he’s considered a key part of the team with duties including providing hot drinks and food for those awaiting care, putting patients at ease, and ensuring linen cupboards are well stocked.

Chetan’s motivation to help the NHS stems from his love for his younger brother, Amitabh, who was successfully treated for a serious heart condition last year. “Volunteering makes me a better person and builds compassion in me. As a hospital volunteer, you realise that whatever pains and problems you have in life are nothing compared to what some people have to put up with, explained Chetan.

Helpforce Chair, Jayne Blacklay, said:

“Volunteering needs to be an integral part of a health system that’s fit for the future, and Helpforce is determined to see it included in national conversations.

“Giving Back, Transforming Care gives us a platform from which to build alliances with health leaders, funders, and policymakers - so that together we can unlock volunteering's full potential and create lasting, meaningful change for patients, healthcare professionals, and volunteers alike.”

Ends

[i] Falls: applying All Our Health - GOV.UK

[ii] Falls Prevention: Community Exercise Programme; reducing risk of deconditioning, falls and loneliness in frail elderly patients | British Geriatrics Society

[iii] British Medical Journal, 2024