Helpforce Cymr
Spring 2020 update
This is a brief update to let you know what’s been going on and what is planned.
Charter on volunteering and workplace relationships: to clarify and strengthen relations between paid workers and volunteers
Following a period of consultation and some useful feedback received, a final version was signed off by Wales TUC and WCVA in December.
It is hoped that the charter will encourage local conversations about new and appropriate ways of involving volunteers in public services, whilst having due regard for the job security of paid workers and the professional standards by which they work. It is particularly relevant within the statutory sector, where trade unions are regularly involved in discussions about workforce development. It will be relevant to many voluntary sector contexts also.
The revised charter can be downloaded here. You can also read a blog on volunteering and workplace relationships.
The charter will be formally launched on 3 March 2020 by Jane Hutt AM, Deputy First Minister and Chief Whip, Shavannah Taj, Acting General Secretary, Wales TUC and Ruth Marks, Chief Executive, WCVA. If you would like to attend please register here or contact Fiona Liddell [email protected].
Developing standards and training tools for volunteer induction New standards for the induction of volunteers in health and care and a web education portal were shared with those who came to a bespoke event in December. The new Helpforce portal is current being tested and is expected to go live in April. We will be making sure that web links are made to training resources that already exist in Wales for volunteers and for those who work with volunteers, such as the all Wales induction framework for health and social care, Wales safeguarding procedures and resources from Third Sector Support Wales (a new portal is under development) .
Volunteering to support clinical care
The standards and portal described above link in with a wider 3 year project, funded by the Burdett Trust and known as the Helpforce Burdett Clinical Collaborative.
This project is developing three strands of work:
– engaging clinical leads in growing and co-designing volunteering and considering what makes for successful volunteering in a clinical setting, (ensuring, for example, that roles are not substituting for staff).
Developing a set of metrics to describe the impact of volunteering – on patients, staff, organisations and on volunteers themselves
– identifying how to prepare the best environment for volunteers to thrive, so that both staff and volunteers are well prepared before volunteering begins. Developing a framework for implementing change around volunteering and a toolkit to support this
– considering how to support the transition from volunteering to a career in health and care and developing a set of principles around this
A number of exploratory conversations have taken place with colleagues in Wales, including with NHS Wales, Bevan Commission, the all Wales Listening and Learning forum Feedback Network (Patient Experience) and a multi disciplinary team in Aberystwyth
We will continue to contribute to the development of this UK project. If you are a clinician and would like to be involved in this work you can find out more and register your interest here.
Volunteering and end of life care
We are delighted that three Heath Boards are to be funded to develop volunteering and end of life care as part of the UK wide Helpforce/ Marie Curie project.
Funding has been secured from the National Lottery Community Fund and from Welsh Government, to support projects in Aneurin Bevan, Hywel Dda and Powys Teaching Health Boards.
Monitoring and impact data from these will be aggregated with that from a cohort of projects across the UK, in order to learn more about what is effective and what are the transferable insights that may be of benefit to other areas. We will be looking at the three Wales projects to see how they can contribute to achieving the goals of A Healthier Wales.
The UK wide project was launched with an event in London in February and has attracted media interest to date from the Nursing Standard, Daily Mail and BBC.
Part of the fabric? How to better integrate volunteering into health and care services?
An event, scheduled for 11.30 – 12.30 at this year’s Gofod 3 event on 19 March, 2020, is chance to discuss what helps or hinders us from better integrating volunteering with statutory health and care provision.
In preparation for the event, we are working with Welsh Government to produce some brief videos to showcase the roles that volunteers play in health and care.
Panel members Daisy Cole, Director, Action for Hearing Loss, Mark Lever, CEO, Helpforce , Kate Griffiths, Director, Red Cross Cymru and Mark Harris, Wales Ambulance Services Trust will share their stories, insights and discuss with participants how volunteering could be better resourced, strategically planned and embedded within local services. The event is chaired by Tanya Strange, Associate Director of Nursing, Person Centred Care, Aneurin Bevan UHB.
To book a place, please register here.
Learn and Share event 2 April 2020
The Helpforce Learning Network brings together people with an interest in developing volunteering to benefit patients and staff within the NHS. It includes volunteer service managers from many NHS Boards and Trusts across the UK and also individuals from voluntary organisations that work with and impact on the NHS.
As well as the website and online forum, the Network runs bimonthly webinars on different topics and bimonthly Learn and Share events in different locations.
The first such Learn and Share event to be held in Wales will take place on Thursday 2 April at the Catrin Finch Centre, Wrexham. Numbers will be limited in order to facilitate informal networking, conversation and mutual support between participants.
Presentations in the morning will focus on volunteering for health and care in North Wales and the afternoon agenda will be discussion of topics of mutual interest as identified by participants.
If you would like to join the Network, or if you are interested in attending the event In Wrexham on 2 April, please contact Fiona [email protected].
Learning and sharing through case studies
Following visits and face to face interviews with project staff, these case studies have most recently been published:
Young volunteers supporting Cardiff hospitals
Blood Bikes
Volunteering for Health at Hywel Dda – celebrating 10 years
Hear to Help (Action on Hearing Loss)
A community of Care – Skanda Vale Hospice
Helpforce is working with Third Sector Support Wales (WCVA and 19 CVCs), Welsh Government and other partners to develop the potential of volunteering to support health and social care services in Wales ,
Fiona Liddell Helpforce Cymru Manager WCVA
[email protected] 029 2043 1730 @FionaMLiddell
