General network discussion group

21 March 2024

Thank you to our guests who attended and participated in discussing a variety of topics.

Here are the highlights: -

Engaging volunteers for specialist roles

A children’s hospice is looking for outreach volunteers to cover a large area providing practical low-level support and drivers for the children and their families.

Their challenge is how to spread the word into the communities that cover a large rural area to find volunteers with the required skills, reliability and resilience. Ideally the volunteers would be ex-professional i.e. bereavement counsellors.

Advice:

• Consider contacting the Head Teachers or PTA at primary or middle schools where there will be parents who could have the skills and experience required
• Be very clear about what skills are required in any advertisements.

Planning for Volunteers’ Week and the Big Help Out

Suggestions:

• Ask leads to do a talk for the volunteers. For example: A sustainability lead giving a talk on the NHS’s sustainability policy.
• Taster sessions to help with recruitment.
• More discussions and tops tips can be found in the Forum

Young volunteers

Young Health Champion Programme for 16–24-year-olds. Find out more about this amazing programme by watching the short video recording on Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust website.

Asking volunteers for donations

Some volunteer managers/coordinators may feel a little uncomfortable about asking volunteers, who are already giving their time, to donate or take part in a fundraiser.

The advice from the group was:

• Make sure that the volunteer understands that there is no pressure for them to donate or take part in a fundraiser.
• As part of the induction process make the volunteer aware of how to find information about any fund-raising events. For example: social media or a newsletter. It is then down to the individual whether they wish to be involved or not.

National Volunteer Certificate

This was highly recommended by one member in the group.

The modules are completed online, and as has been discussed in previous discussion groups, there are volunteers who do not have access or cannot use the technology required. If the volunteer wishes to participate then extra help from the organisation is often required.

• East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust have kindly shared documents that they use to help their volunteers. Supporting volunteers to access databases and learning programmes
• You can also find out more by watching the webinar recording here

If anyone has any practical advice and would like to share their knowledge on the above topics, please continue the conversation here on the Forum.

You can find more tips, links and ideas from previous conversations in the Forum Library