The services available include:
Check In and Chat volunteers provide telephone support to people who need a chat and some encouragement to improve their mental health and wellbeing.
Check In and Chat Plus volunteers provide regular telephone calls for more vulnerable people – 3 calls a week over a 6-week period from the same volunteer.
Community response volunteers (in some areas) are available to collect and deliver essential shopping and prescriptions to people in receipt of care support
Pick-Up and Deliver volunteers transport medication or small items of medical equipment to people’s homes from NHS sites and equipment between sites.
Complementing Existing Workforces
Volunteer Responders do not undertake staff duties but instead complement the existing workforce. This allows care staff to focus on providing quality care to those who need it most.
Assurance and Peace of Mind
Volunteer Responders have had the appropriate checks and receive the required guidance and support for these activities. They are co-ordinated centrally and deployed locally. Their expenses are paid by the programme.
There is comprehensive wrap-around support and assurance. Safeguarding and problem-solving teams, and a helpline are available every day from 8 am to 8 pm.
Benefits of the Volunteer Responders Programme
The programme offers numerous benefits to individuals and the sector as a whole:
Benefits to the people being supported
- Adding value to their care experience
- Reduce isolation and loneliness and improving wellbeing and sense of connection.
- Enhanced quality of life
Supporting the ASC Workforce
- Quick access to a free pool of available volunteers.
- Volunteers improve the quality of care experience, complementing the roles of the ASC workforce.
- Volunteers free up staff to support individuals with more complex needs to live independently.
- Research shows that care staff, supported by volunteers, report greater job satisfaction and reduced stress levels.
Enhancing Sector Provision
- Provides short-term support for up to six weeks.
- Compliments existing volunteering programmes and increases overall capacity.
- Facilitating ASC Staff and Volunteer Recruitment
- Volunteer Responders attract newcomers into volunteering due to the flexibility, acting as a stepping stone to ongoing volunteering participation.
- The programme creates a helpful pool of individuals with care experience, supporting recruitment into social care.
To find out more or make a referral, please see
