Value of Volunteering - invitation
Values and the value of volunteering – our hidden asset
An online launch event for a paper on the value of volunteering within health and social care will be held on 23 November.
The paper, published by the Bevan Commission, is available to download here.
Volunteers have always made a vital contribution to health and care in Wales but the experience of the Covid 19 pandemic has made the power and potential of volunteering more visible. Pressures on our health and care system and its paid workforce, demands that we look more seriously at how we can maximise the potential of all our skills and resources, including volunteers.
There is a growing body of evidence to support the positive impacts of volunteering on the health and wellbeing of patients, carers and service users, as well as on staff, health systems and on volunteers themselves. It can help to alleviate some of the pressing issues facing our health and care system today, through for example, the giving of time for patient focussed conversation, practical support or information, by enabling a broader reach of services closer to home and by averting demands on acute services.
We need to develop and to share what works well more widely, to bring about a culture change within statutory and multisector bodies to enable space for volunteering to flourish and have maximum impact. Prudent health care demands no less.
This session will introduce the themes and recommendations of the paper Values and Value of Volunteering – our hidden asset, published by the Bevan Commission. We will hear, from different perspectives, what it could mean to develop the potential of volunteering and what needs to change in order for us to fully realise this.
Speakers include:
· Judith Paget CBE Director General of Health and Social Services/Chief Executive NHS Wales
· James Johnson Robins Volunteers Manager, Workforce and Organisational Development BCUHB
· Tanya Strange, Head of Nursing Person Centred Care, ABUHB
The session will be of interest to those in planning, strategic roles for health and social care, both within public or voluntary sectors.
The event is hosted by Helpforce Cymru/WCVA and Bevan Commission
For further details contact Fiona Liddell fliddell@wcva.cymru.
Source: WCVA