Volunteering

 

NHS Volunteer Responders

Registration for NHS Volunteer Responders is temporarily paused to enable us to process over 750,000 applications and work together with NHS England to get the volunteer army up and running.  Please bear with us at this time.

NHS Volunteer Responders is a new group that will carry out simple, non-medical tasks to support people in England who are self-isolating because of specific health conditions. They will be used by healthcare professionals to make sure people who are highly vulnerable to coronavirus (COVID-19) are able to stay safe and well at home.

NHS Volunteer Responders will support with simple but vital tasks including driving people to and from hospital, delivering food and medication, and telephone befriending. Volunteers will also support the NHS to transport equipment and supplies.

Volunteers have been recruited for four key roles, the support you request will need to match these roles in order to ensure the volunteer has received appropriate guidance and checks:

Community Response Volunteer: This role involves collecting shopping, medication or other essential supplies for someone who is self-isolating/vulnerable, and delivering these supplies to their home.

Patient Transport Volunteer: This role supports the NHS by providing transport to patients who are medically fit for discharge, as well as taking patients to their essential appointments.

NHS Transport Volunteer: This role involves transporting equipment, supplies and/or medication between NHS services and sites, it may also involve assisting pharmacies with medication delivery.

Check in and Chat Volunteer: This role provides short-term telephone support to individuals who are at risk of loneliness as a consequence of self-isolation.

NHS Volunteer Responders are not intended to replace local groups helping their vulnerable neighbours but is an additional service provided by the NHS.

Please read our FAQs if you have registered as a NHS Volunteer Responder

 

If you need to speak to us, you can find our support team telephone number in your alerts or in your Getting You Started pack.

NHS Volunteer Responders information for health professionals

NHS Volunteer Responders are ready to provide vital support to the NHS.

If you are a healthcare professional you are able to refer someone who may be vulnerable and at risk. All referrals should be made via the NHS Volunteer Responders referrers’ portal

More guidance on making referrals can be found on the NHS England website

 

Click on the questions below for more information about NHS Volunteer Responders.

 

Why has NHS Volunteer Responders been set up?
 

Health and social care professionals will be able to refer people into this service if they have certain health conditions which put them at high risk from coronavirus. It will be used by doctors, nurses and others where there is no current local support for these people to help them stay well. This keeps hospital beds free and provides health professionals with a trusted, national database of volunteers.

NHS Volunteer Responders is being delivered by Royal Voluntary Service one of the country’s largest and long-standing volunteering charities.

 

Is this different from helping out my neighbours and with local charities?
 

NHS Volunteer Responders is not intended to replace any local provision so if you are doing that please continue. NHS Volunteer Responders will provide a service where informal support is not available or easily linked to by health and social care professionals.

 

I am clinically trained - how can I volunteer to help the NHS?
 

If you have clinical training please offer to help your local hospital trust. The NHS Volunteer Responders will not do clinical tasks.