Effective integration across place
The Back to Health Pathway - How an NHS trust extended volunteering services from the hospital into the community
About the Back to Health Pathway
In 2022 George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust (GEH) approached Helpforce about building up their volunteer services. Warwickshire North Place Based Partnership wanted GEH to build on volunteers’ important contribution during the pandemic, and create support beyond the hospital and into their communities.
Based on their established Back to Health framework, Helpforce supported GEH to develop and evaluate a pathway of new and existing services, where volunteers – in hospital or in the community – work alongside staff to support patients at all stages of their treatment and recovery journey.
The Pathway’s impact
40,107
patients supported
111 weeks
of productivity gains
5.8%
The GEH Back to Health Pathway has been a success and demonstrated:
- Volunteering at scale, developing an infrastructure so volunteers can support thousands of people in the hospital and community.
- Improved DNA rates so patients get timely access to care and vulnerable people access services more easily.
- How volunteers completing non-clinical tasks drives efficiencies and reduces pressure on staff.
- How to embed volunteering in the strategic planning and operations at trust, place and ICB level.
We launched the findings of the Back to Health Pathway on 26 June 2024, at a webinar attended by colleagues from health, care and community organisations.
The webinar shared the strategic significance of the Pathway to the hospital and place, and its operational challenges and results. Jenni Northcote, Chief Strategy and Partnerships Officer, explained how the Pathway meant volunteering was now embedded in GEH’s strategic and operational activity.
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