September 3, 2026

Inspired by Things that Worked. And Things that Didn’t.

Sarah Coutts, Strategic Lead for our Volunteering for Health project, has written a three-part blog series, based on our observational report on what works to support volunteers into health volunteering settings, in South Lakeland and Furness.

You can read Part 1 – Start with place here and read Part 2 here – What worked when we tested in the Real World

 

Health is both the context and the opportunity

This is, after all, a health project. So where is health in all of this?

It is in the person who becomes less isolated because they have somewhere to go on a Tuesday morning. It is in the retired resident who finds purpose after leaving work. It is in the neighbour who helps someone stay connected to their community. It is in the young person who gains confidence through a supported work experience route. It is in the small act of contribution that stops someone feeling invisible.

The NHS 10 Year Health Plan talks about three big shifts: from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention. Volunteering can support these shifts if we are honest about what volunteering is good at. It can build connection. It can support prevention. It can create routes into confidence, contribution and community based support. It can help people stay well for longer, if the routes into it are realistic.

For this area, that means taking older residents seriously as a key audience. We have more older people in our place. Older people are more likely to use health services. Older people already volunteer. That overlap feels worth noticing properly, and it should probably influence what we do next.

 

So, what actually works?

The answer is not mysterious. Start with a real opportunity, not a general aspiration. Be clear about who it is for, what support is available, what the person will actually do and what would make the opportunity unsuitable at this stage. Prepare people before they meet people. Use deadlines. Keep routes simple. Treat ‘helping out’ as valid. Do not ask teams to absorb uncertainty indefinitely. Do not invite people towards roles that are not ready to receive them. And, perhaps most importantly, do not confuse a promising conversation with actual delivery.

Probably the most important learning of the project so far may be that the work that works does so when it is small enough to happen, clear enough to follow and kind enough to feel human. It has named people, practical support and the humility to accept that systems do not create change, the people operating within them do.

 

What next?

We are now at the midpoint of the project; one year in, one year to go. There is not enough time, budget or influence to build a grand strategy and then deliver it neatly before June 2027. This is inconvenient, but also rather helpful. It focuses the mind on what is possible.

This next year should focus on incremental change that can survive beyond the project end. That means orientating the work around the geography that makes most practical sense for delivery. It means bringing health settings in as active but realistic partners. It means testing whether neighbourhood health can provide a longer-term home for the learning. It also means building a clearer prevention focused strand with older residents, alongside targeted routes linked to employment and work experience where those routes are genuinely ready.

None of this is a shiny answer. It is not what we set out to do. Or what we were tasked with doing. But it is an answer that represents the place we are and the communities that we have. It is based on the learning of a year of tests and ‘near tests’. It is a small and defined, practical route through incredible complexity. But small changes can lead to more ambitious change, provided they are real, owned and not quietly waiting for the ideal conditions to arrive to write the ‘perfect strategy’.

If we want volunteering to support health, we need to make it easier, warmer, more local and more realistic. Fewer abstract pathways or conversations. More named people helping other people to take the next step. Less ambiguity. More follow up. More and better connection between what works now.

To get involved in the Volunteering for Health project then contact me – Sarah.coutts@cumbriacvs.org.uk