Alan Bigham details the seismic changes in NHS volunteering since the outbreak of the coronavirus

In strange times, strange things happen. And for volunteering in NHSScotland during the coronavirus pandemic we saw two extremes.

In March 2020, face to face volunteering in NHS boards was paused. Overnight, from there being 6,000 active volunteers, there were suddenly none. Then, from April, alongside a groundswell of public response to the pandemic, we witnessed some of the most adaptive and responsive volunteer recruitment and engagement ever: 1,000 active volunteers were placed in .half the time it would usually take!

Supporting NHS boards navigate this rapid recruitment of volunteers in a safe, supportive and purposeful way was Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s Volunteering in NHSScotland programme, which sits within the Community Engagement directorate.

The Volunteering in NHSScotland Programme team are only too aware of how long it can take for an applicant to become an active volunteer, in the past year we ran a dedicated improvement project to accelerate recruitment. But the response from NHS boards in this crisis period has unlocked doors far quicker than we could have imagined.

To support this rapid response, we collaborated with NHS Education for Scotland and volunteer managers from across the health service to develop a national online induction module for boards and guidance which included recommendations for fast-tracking recruitment, shared examples of new emerging role descriptions and all-important accompanying risk assessments.

In developing the guidance, we were able to draw from the work we had already carried through the earlier improvement project. This, together with a very convincing presentation from Shelter Scotland to our Volunteer Managers Network on how they not only improved recruitment times, but also removed some very ingrained institutional barriers to prospective volunteers, was incredibly helpful in speeding things up.

Crucially, the integrity of volunteering in NHSScotland has remained protected. In keeping with board policies and supported by the development tools of the programme, we were clear from the outset that workforce gaps should be filled via workforce recruitment. Volunteering has also has adapted, with roles shaped to complement the brave new world before us: volunteers safely transporting donations and clothing to and from wards, signposting patients to hand hygiene stations, supporting patients at mealtimes and running shop errands for them and remote and virtual pastoral support.

With a focus on what is ‘good enough’ we know that there will be scope to improve and adapt even further. For instance, I know very well that online equality and diversity training does not allow people to adequately examine prejudice. But the content we drew from provides a baseline that can be built upon through volunteer support and group engagement when it becomes safe to meet together again.

Similarly, recognising the adjustments made by volunteering programmes, has pulled us all out of those all too familiar ‘this is the way we always did it’ patterns, and we’ll be doing our utmost to ensure that these lessons are learned as we begin a phased return to normality.

April marked the first anniversary of our national outcomes framework, Volunteering for All, which recognises and celebrates the importance of informal as well as formal volunteering. And it’s been due to the former that we have not had to call upon the tens of thousands who responded to, and remain ‘on call’ to volunteer via the Scotland Cares national campaign.

It’s my personal hope that from this response to informal and formal volunteering, we will see a greater understanding of just what a difference the giving of time can make. So on a very different Volunteers' Week it’s an opportunity to celebrate the endeavours of those who have recently joined the ranks and to those who will soon return.

From my colleagues and our stakeholders, we say thank you all!

Alan Bigham is programme manager for the community engagement directorate at Healthcare Improvement Scotland