Volunteering in NHS Scotland - Exploring Best Practice
This guide provides staff working in volunteer management in NHS Scotland with a range of templates, information and advice on best practice in volunteer management. You can use and adapt this for your own volunteer programme.
Volunteers across NHS Scotland carry out a wide variety of roles across the country, improving patient experience, adding value and freeing up staff time. During any given month there are 3,000 to 4,000 volunteers giving approximately 45,000 hours of their time.
These volunteers are supported by volunteer managers, co-ordinators and administrators who ensure that volunteering is developed, managed safely and provides the best possible experience for those who choose to give their time to NHS Scotland.
The guide provides information on best practice for volunteering, and a range of tools and resources to support the entire process of volunteer management. You will find a range of checklists and templates that you can take and use within your own NHS board.
Editable versions of the templates are available on the NHS Scotland Volunteering Community of Practice, or by contacting his.volunteering@nhs.scot
The guide is intended to be a resource which you can refer to as required if you are an experienced volunteer manager, or to help you to build your own knowledge, skills and confidence if you are new to volunteer management. We use the term "volunteer manager" for any staff who support volunteering or manage volunteers as part of their role. This includes co-ordinators and administrative staff.
Content within the guide may also be helpful for teams who support the recruitment of volunteers such as HR teams and Occupational Health teams. While the guide has been written to support staff managing volunteers in hospital settings, much of the content is applicable for other healthcare settings such as health and social care partnerships.
