Volunteering for Health

Cumbria CVS is part of the Volunteering for Health Partnership for Lancashire and South Cumbria.

The three-year Volunteering for Health programme is part of NHS England’s response to the NHS Volunteering Taskforce, which brought together health charities, volunteers, clinicians, civil servants and policy makers. The Taskforce published its recommendations in June 2023, concluding that more can be done nationally and locally to maximise the benefits of volunteers and volunteering in the NHS, as a vital resource in delivering health and social care nationally and locally, whilst strengthening volunteering infrastructure.

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Charity (LTHC) was one of 15 partnerships across the UK to successfully bid for funding. Alongside LTHC, the successful partnership is made up of five VCFSE organisations, including Cumbria CVS, Lancashire Association of CVS, Community CVS, Spring North, and Volunteer Centre Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde. Volunteering for Health aims to develop volunteering infrastructure to realise the potential of volunteering in improving the experience and outcomes of people using our health and care systems.

It will do this through building the capacity and capability of organisations and local health and care systems. The partnership intends to share volunteer policies, processes, procedures, training and help to enhance relationships, and to improve the way volunteer data is captured and reported. The partnership also aims to test new models of volunteering and look at ways of embedding volunteering into the culture of our health and social care systems.

The project aims to strengthen best practice in volunteer management, ultimately leading to improved health outcomes. It will align initiatives with Integrated Care Board (ICB) priorities, embedding volunteering within healthcare systems and fostering closer collaboration between the ICB and local organisations through strategic engagement.

We are currently in the process of setting up our first Partnership Board meeting. The Board will lead on the development of a strategic approach to enable and embed volunteering for all volunteer-involving health and care organisations at a place-based level. It will also be instrumental in the roll out of the consultation process with key stakeholders which will underpin the development of a volunteering strategy for South Cumbria.

For more information please contact Caroline Burden, Volunteering Manager (Westmorland and Furness) caroline.burden@cumbriacvs.org.uk