Pressure on frontline NHS staff eased by volunteers

A new report has highlighted the vital role that volunteers in hospitals play in improving the experience of patients and relieving pressure on frontline staff.

The King’s Fund research, commissioned by Royal Voluntary Service and Helpforce, is the first time that NHS frontline staff have been surveyed for their views about volunteers and reveals very strong support for volunteering among frontline staff.

Based on a survey of nearly 300 hospital staff in England including nurses, doctors and support staff, The role of volunteers in the NHS finds that the act of ‘bringing human kindness to a busy ward’, by completing simple tasks such as doing tea rounds or offering companionship, comfort and support to patients, helps to free up time for pressurised frontline staff to prioritise clinical care, improving staff experience as well as the patient’s experience of care.

In fact, 90 per cent of staff believe volunteering adds a lot of value for patients and 74 per cent said they also add value for staff with a third of respondents said volunteers provide essential reassurance and company to patients. A high proportion of frontline staff interact with volunteers regularly and 82 per cent of nurses stated they enjoy working with volunteers.

Conversely, there are also a number of challenges for hospital staff when it comes to working with volunteers, the biggest of which is a lack of clarity regarding the boundaries between the roles of staff and volunteers. Some staff raised concerns about the potential to rely on volunteers too much in services that are increasingly under pressure and stated that volunteers would have more impact if they themselves were provided with better training and better knowledge of the role of volunteers.

Richard Murray, director of Policy at The King’s Fund, said: “Despite the growing focus being placed on the value of volunteering in NHS hospitals, we still have much to learn about how frontline staff feel about volunteers. Understanding this is critical if the welcome step-change in health policy and support for volunteering is to translate to practical success on the ground. We found that frontline staff clearly appreciate the human kindness volunteers bring into busy hospital life, provided they are not being used as a substitute for paid staff. We encourage NHS bosses to sit up and take note of the critical role their staff say volunteers play in enhancing patient experience.”
 
Catherine Johnstone, chief executive of Royal Voluntary Service, said: “Our volunteers have been gifting their time to support the NHS since the very beginning. We know the difference they make, from improving patient experience to allowing more time for doctors and nurses to concentrate on clinical care. But the perceptions of frontline NHS staff on the issue have, to date, been largely overlooked. The report highlights both opportunities and challenges, which we need to embrace and tackle if we want to successfully scale up voluntary service in hospitals. Supporting Trusts to develop effective volunteering strategies, providing greater clarity around the role volunteers can and should play, providing the right training to help volunteers perform those roles and developing bespoke service offerings to get more volunteers on to wards, are all areas where we can add significant value.”

The report follows the recent announcement of a partnership between Royal Voluntary Service and Helpforce to explore how to scale up the number of volunteers in the NHS to ease pressure points.