NHS Scotland Volunteering Programme: annual report 2023-24

The value of NHS Scotland volunteering

NHS Scotland volunteers give their time to almost every NHS board in Scotland, making a meaningful difference to staff, patients and their families in a huge variety of ways.

Volunteers provide support in hospital wards and outpatient departments. They assist patients and visitors to find their way around, tend gardens, provide befriending and listening services. They are also Community First Responders providing lifesaving intervention before an ambulance arrives, or they are Public Partners helping Healthcare Improvement Scotland to
create guidelines and standards.

Every volunteer who chooses to give their time contributes to the considerable impact that volunteering has on NHS Scotland.