Posted on: 30 May 2024
Hello, my name is Jo.
The first week in June is National Volunteers week here in the UK, when we take time to recognise the valuable role volunteers play across our health and care system.
In West Yorkshire, we have an estimated 132,213 volunteers in the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) alone, and based on nationally estimated distribution of volunteers across sectors, around a further 22,440 volunteers in the public sector (Mc Garvey et al 2020).
Here in West Yorkshire, we believe volunteering is transformational, both for those who volunteer and give their time, expertise and energy, and for the communities and individuals they support. Volunteering takes many forms – it might be at a foodbank, in a hospital, as a community responder, running a lunch club or activity group, as a Trustee, in a hospice, or as a befriender and so many other roles! Every one of these contributes to the health and well-being of our communities.
Thank you to every one of you. We really recognise and value the difference you are making for the people of West Yorkshire.
In recognition of the value of volunteering across our system, in 2022, we established a West Yorkshire Integrated Volunteering Approaches Group. Our aim is to work together to strengthen volunteering across our health and care system and maximise the potential for both volunteers and for the health and well-being of our population. This group is made up of volunteering managers and leaders from hospital trusts, VCSE organisations, hospices, the wider NHS and Yorkshire Ambulance Service.
We believe that by working as a collaborative of volunteering leaders we are stronger and have the potential to accelerate change across the integrated care system, building on the potential that exists, maximising resources and improving outcomes. We are able to test approaches and innovation across sectors and organisations, and work with a more diverse range of volunteers including those with lived experience, from areas of deprivation and from different population groups. The different experiences, strengths and skills each partner brings creates a rich and varied foundation for a West Yorkshire-wide approach.
As a group we have already developed a set of volunteer principles which have been adopted by our integrated care board (ICB) and aligned with the approach in South Yorkshire ICB and Humber and North Yorkshire ICB. These volunteer principles articulate our agreed, shared standards and ways of working for the benefit of volunteers, staff, our partners, and our communities.
Our ambition is to build on these and to work together to strengthen the role of volunteering across health and care, including through increasing access and inclusion (including recruitment, support and retention of a diverse range of volunteers), enabling volunteer movement across organisations, agreeing shared and transferable training and testing new approaches in practice in different health and care settings.
If your organisation hasn't signed up to the West Yorkshire Volunteering Principles yet, you can do so by emailing wyicb-wak.hpoc.program@nhs.net.
And now you can have your say on the future of volunteering in West Yorkshire!
Building on our volunteer principles, we have been working together as a collaborative of volunteering leaders to develop a West Yorkshire integrated volunteering strategy.
The strategy is on one page – we wanted to keep it simple and focused on what we believe is best done together on a West Yorkshire footprint. It sets out our shared priorities for the next few years, building on the good practice at place and aligning approaches to volunteering, working more collaboratively to build resilience and consistency across our system. Access and inclusion are at the heart of the strategy.
We are now keen to hear what everyone thinks and hope you can help us bring together feedback from different organisations, sectors, volunteer managers, volunteers themselves and anyone else you think has an interest in volunteering.
If you would like to have your say or bring together a group to feed into the process, please e mail jo-anne.
Once again – a BIG THANK YOU to all volunteers – your work is invaluable.
"Volunteers don't get paid – not because they're worthless, but because they're priceless."
Thanks for reading,
Jo