Nus Ghani, MP for Wealden, has welcomed the Department for Health & Social Care’s recent update to the NHS Volunteer Responders Programme, which now allows MP’s to refer constituents into the support system to receive help from NHS Volunteer Responders.
The NHS Volunteer Responders Programme, which is run through the GoodSam app, had an incredible response from volunteers and so far more than 180,000 tasks have been carried out across the country. The scheme was set up to work alongside existing volunteer efforts at a local level to ease the burden on health and social care services, and the volunteers are available to carry out non-medical tasks for individuals in the community who are shielding during the COVID-19 pandemic or consider themselves vulnerable.
Nus Ghani said “The NHS Volunteer Responders Programme has been invaluable in supporting people during this crisis and I wish to thank all the volunteers for signing up to the scheme and supporting our amazing health and social care workers. I have received a huge amount of correspondence from constituents who are vulnerable or from people concerned about relatives who are self-isolating and it will be a great help to now be able to directly refer constituents into the system to receive support from NHS Volunteer Responders.”
Individuals who require support are now also able to self-refer into the scheme. If someone is shielding, considers themselves vulnerable, or a carer and needs help with shopping or collecting medication, or would like to ‘check in and chat’, they or their family can call 0808 196 3646 (8am to 8pm) to arrange volunteer support. For more information please see https://volunteering.royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk/nhs-volunteer-responders-portal.
