Involving Volunteers
Volunteers will be involved at all levels of HWS operation. In addition to volunteers driving forward the strategic direction and decision making for HWS a wide range of volunteering opportunities will be available operationally. Each of the main HWS work strands will be delivered by teams of appropriately skilled and trained staff and volunteers who will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check commensurate with their risk assessed role.
In line with good practice and SVS Volunteers Policies all HWS volunteers will be recruited to undertake clearly defined roles. Staff will oversee and support those undertaking operational activities to ensure that there is consistency of approach and maintenance of good practice and quality standards which is important to give and assure the public confidence in HWS. In this context it is important to ensure that volunteers understand the need for, and are willing operate to, high standards so that voluntary does not equate to amateur or public confidence could be easily eroded.
In order to encourage maximum engagement volunteers will be involved a range of defined opportunities requiring different skills levels and time commitments which will be as flexible as possible within the requirement to deliver a consistent and professional service. Volunteers will have a Volunteers Agreement setting out their role, our expectations of them and what they can expect of us. They will receive induction, training and supervision appropriate to their roles as well as opportunities for personal development and learning. Volunteers work within SVS policy framework, or those mutually agreed with our partner organisations, and will be reimbursed for their legitimate out of pocket expenses as well as offered recognition by way of nomination for the city Volunteers Certificate scheme when they meet its criteria and all volunteers may ask for provision of a reference with respect to the role they have undertaken. SVS holds Volunteer England national quality award external accreditation for its Volunteer Centre work and would apply good practice to involving and encouraging volunteers at all levels within Healthwatch Southampton.
Volunteers will not only be overseeing HWS strategically and doing tasks operationally within its workstrands but are also likely to be our most powerful and trusted champions and promoters through their work, family and friendship connections into the wider public so it is important to involve as wide as possible a group of volunteers reflecting all sections of our communities.
In addition to the voluntary roles outlined for the HWS Strategic Group members and subject to further development and their prioritisation by HSG and satisfactory DBS checks it is envisaged the following types of volunteering opportunities could be offered –
- HWS Focus Group member – members of Healthwatch that indicate they are willing to participate in a specific focus group on particular topics or based in geographic areas of the city. This is most flexible, least arduous and the most loosely defined time commitment required from volunteers interested in more active involvement as a HWS member. It might require attending periodic meetings or responding to surveys for opinions.
- “Community Healthwatchers “ – local area based HWS ‘eyes and ears’ on the ground promoting HWS involvement to local residents, putting out information and posters in local community settings, notice boards etc and maintaining these as up to date, collecting information and anecdotes from grassroots to feed into HWS intelligence gathering , sampling local views via agreed survey routes and providing a feedback loop on actions following comments received, attending local events and meetings to promote HWS or linking to Patient Participation Groups in GP practices. Again these neighbourhood based roles offer considerable flexibility for involvement whilst requiring regular feedback to HWS. It is envisaged that these roles would be paired or linked in small neighbourhood teams to help sustain peer support and knowledge, consistent approaches, assist with verifying local information trends and ensure that individuals do not act as isolated ‘mavericks’ who could undermine HWS credibility.
- A similar role can be envisaged for Healthwatchers linked to people in communities of identity or interest rather than neighbourhoods which would help link, build awareness, confidence and encourage involvement by people of all ages and communities in the city – eg linking with young people , students, people in residential settings, disabled people etc. People with particular skills such as Makaton or BSL signers, other language speakers or volunteer contacts with people from particular communities eg gypsy and travellers, gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender communities (GLBT), BME communities etc would be especially welcome and encouraged to get involved in order to reach out to isolated or often ignored and unheard communities. Rather than reinvent wheels volunteers in this context would be encouraged to link with existing voluntary and community groups and activists working in these areas to build from existing networks and strengthen within the current membership base of both SLinks and SVS.
- Healthwatch Media Trackers – will be tasked with scanning local and national media for comments, stories and trends about health and social care in the city as well as picking up from national learning. Again this can be a flexible opportunity which might suit someone who is disabled or sensory impaired and quite home based but who loves listening in to local radio for example or alternatively attracting a young student who is interested in doing journalism and could gain experience through scanning the Echo hard copy and on line commentary to feed in evidence from that source. This will provide an extra source of intelligence on what issues relating to health and social care members of the public are talking about locally as well as evidence of awareness of HWS and route for us to contact concerned members of the public proactively where appropriate and possible. This will also include reviewing the recently launched NAG:S (NHS Action Group Southampton) website for their independent and irascible take on local NHS issues even if they do regard HWS as a potentially toothless tiger so through our actions we shall try to prove them wrong.
- Healthwatch Taskers – recruited to undertake a described specific task or piece of work – which may or may not be time limited – linked to one of the main work streams. This would give volunteers a scoped task and finish piece of work to undertake which they could subsequently renew or continue without feeling they have to give an entirely open ended commitment. Volunteering research shows that defined but renewable commitments can be very appealing for volunteers – especially those who are unemployed or uncertain about their long term availability and commitment.
- Healthwatch Monitors – these volunteers will be specifically trained and vetted to undertake the enter and view statutory powers role and may or may not include member of the HSG undertaking this role. They will provide fresh eyes to review local provision and to talk confidentially in situ to service users, carers, families and friends who might otherwise feel inhibited about speaking to the provider about their experiences and quality of care received.
- Healthwatch Marketeers and Data Gurus – providing admin, technical and IT support to assist with office administration and data entry, marketing and execution of HWS communications plan, writing press releases, producing interactive videos and social media content. These opportunities are likely to particularly appeal to younger volunteers, ‘tekkies’ and unemployed people wishing to gain skills but who might have only short term availability but all of whom will help widen the awareness of HWS across different parts of our city and communities .
- Healthwatch Information workers – to assist with front office enquiries ensuring that there is a personal and prompt reply to all enquires received whether by phone, email or in person and with information, signposting and informed choice support especially where enquirer may require a home visit. These will initially be provided by our partner Southampton CAB utilising their existing well trained volunteer base which already provide information services in a number of city settings and which will provide rapidly deliverable extra outreach capacity and ready access to the well established national CAB case recording and monitoring system for tracking enquiry types and trends. This will aid data comparisons with neighbouring Healthwatch areas for trend and other cumulative incident monitoring.
- Healthwatch Advocacy workers – to support staff in the specialist complaints advocacy service – these are likely to be administrative in the first instance and then possibly triage or more direct advocacy involvement as skills and knowledge is developed and advocacy training to meet suitable standards is undertaken. These opportunities will be jointly developed by SVS and SEAP to ensure effective integration and a smooth transition pathways for the customer between the HWS work strands.