Report highlights value of healthcare volunteers

Healthcare volunteers play a valuable role in their sector, going beyond an ‘extra pair of hands’ to provide unique value to patients and colleagues, says a new report published today by Skills for Health.

The Hidden Workforce: Volunteers in the Health Sector in England reports growing interest in the contribution that volunteers can make in healthcare provision, as well as anecdotal evidence of increasing numbers of volunteers. It says that many healthcare providers have been successful in attracting and deploying volunteers, with well-resourced management programmes and careful recruitment activities to identify and attract a wide range of skills. And it notes that as well as benefiting patients and employers, volunteering also offers health benefits to volunteers themselves, both within formal Expert Patient roles and beyond. However the report warns that employers should not underestimate the time and resources that good volunteer management requires, nor the complexities of the ‘psychological contract’ that employers must form with their volunteer staff. Skills for Health research manager Lorraine Yeomans said: “Volunteering is gathering growing interest within the health sector workforce and this study was commissioned to help develop debate around the role of volunteers and how they are managed. “It highlights the valuable contribution made by volunteers and shows that the investment of management time, while quite significant, is genuinely justified by the results.” The scoping report aims to develop debate on skills issues related to volunteering within the health sector and proposes a number of themes for further exploration. These include: • The role of the Volunteer Services Manager and whether this should be developed as a Nationally Transferable Role for the health sector • The qualifications currently available for volunteer managers and whether these should be adapted and developed for the health sector • Job substitution, and the complexities of how best to manage volunteers effectively to avoid their use as a form of cheap labour • The role of the volunteer as a part of the wider healthcare workforce. The Hidden Workforce: Volunteers in the Health Sector in England is available to download from www.skillsforhealth.org.uk/lmi Employers are encouraged to share their experiences of volunteering and contribute to the debate by contacting the Skills for Health Labour Market Intelligence team via lmi@skillsforhealth.org.uk ENDS Media contacts: Dominic Moody, Press & PR Manager Tel. 0117 910 3853, mobile 0776 818 8994 dominic.moody@skillsforhealth.org.uk Notes to editors 1. Skills for Health is the Sector Skills Council for the UK healthcare sector, encompassing the National Health Services, independent healthcare providers and voluntary organisations. Its purpose is to help develop solutions that can deliver a skilled and flexible workforce to improve health and healthcare. 2. Skills for Health develops high quality, accessible, skills and labour market intelligence for the UK health sector. Our primary focus is on the current and future skills needs of the sector, including those working in the NHS, independent and voluntary sectors. Skills and labour market intelligence activities cover four broad areas: Baseline national and regional industry specific intelligence; Research themes; Future-oriented research; and the Labour Market Intelligence online tool.