Coronavirus (COVID-19) update
NHS Volunteer Responders is a new group that will carry out
simple, non-medical tasks to support people in England who have
been asked to shield themselves from coronavirus because of
underlying health conditions.
They will be used by healthcare professionals to make sure
people who are highly vulnerable to coronavirus (COVID-19) are able
to stay safe and well at home.
Who can join and what are the tasks?
The NHS and social care urgently need people to join the NHS
Volunteer Responders to do simple but vital tasks including driving
people to and from hospital, and delivering food and
medication.
Volunteers will also support the NHS to transport equipment and
supplies, and make regular phone calls to check on people isolating
at home.
Please note, to comply with the UK's current 'Stay at Home'
rules you can only volunteer to carry out those tasks which involve
leaving your home if you fulfil ALL of the conditions below:
- You are well and have no symptoms like a cough or high
temperature and neither does anybody in your household
- You are under 70
- You are not pregnant
- You do not have any long-term health conditions that make you
vulnerable to coronavirus
Please see Public Health England: Guidance on social
distancing for everyone in the UK
(www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-social-distancing-and-for-vulnerable-people/guidance-on-social-distancing-for-everyone-in-the-uk-and-protecting-older-people-and-vulnerable-adults).
I need to stay at home - can I still help?
You can sign up as a telephone 'check in and chat' volunteer
even if you are staying at home and you are in one of the groups
listed above.
How do I join?
Just register on the GoodSAM website (www.goodsamapp.org/nhs)
- you will then be asked to select from a list of tasks.
Once your registration and checks are complete you can download
the GoodSAM Responders app.
Local volunteer tasks will be pushed to your phone with an alert
when you switch the app to 'on duty'.
Why has NHS Volunteer Responders been set up?
It is vital that health and social care teams can easily match
people who need help to self-isolate with ID-checked volunteers in
a managed, England-wide system.
This service aims to support people who have specific health
conditions which put them at high risk from coronavirus.
It will be used by doctors, nurses and others where there is no
alternative local support for their patients, and will help to keep
hospital beds available to those who need them most.
Is this different from helping out my neighbours and local
charities?
NHS Volunteer Responders is not intended to replace any local
provision.
It will provide a service where informal support is not
available or where health and social care professionals do not have
a way to refer people into those systems.
It is being delivered by Royal Voluntary Service - one of the
country's largest and long-standing volunteering
charities.
I am clinically trained - how can I volunteer to help the
NHS?
The NHS Volunteer Responders will not undertake
clinical tasks.
If you are clinically trained please see the NHS England website: Clinicians considering a
return to the NHS
(www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/returning-clinicians/).
Alternatively, please contact us, your local hospital trust.
Further information
Please see the NHS England website: 'Your NHS Needs You' -
NHS Call For Volunteer Army
(www.england.nhs.uk/2020/03/your-nhs-needs-you-nhs-call-for-volunteer-army).
