Volunteers Week – Thank you to our 421 colleagues!

We aim to support community-based health initiatives and address key social issues to improve long-term population health, lessen health inequality and, ultimately, reduce pressure and demand on NHS services.

At the start of April 2021, we set ourselves the challenge of getting 5% of our colleagues dedicate some of their working hours to create healthier communities across England, not an easy task as the country was just coming out of months of restrictions.

This Volunteers Week, I’m proud to say that our colleagues really went above and beyond, surpassing the target with 421 colleagues volunteering – over 8%! 

What did our colleagues get up to?

Colleagues got involved in more than 70 different events all across the country, but our top three more popular volunteering opportunities have been:

1. Improving outdoor spaces at schools, community gardens and our own properties, giving people without access to green space at home the opportunity to connect with nature. One such example was when members of the East asset management and construction teams helped to create a community garden on a piece of formerly overgrown land in the centre of the car park at the newly refurbished Kennedy Way Medical Centre.
2. Working with food banks to help prepare, pack and send out food parcels, ensuring those struggling with food poverty are able to eat nutritious meals.  
3. Maintaining adventure playgrounds in urban areas, providing inner-city children with safe environments to exercise, socialise and play.

Why volunteer?

For NHSPS, volunteering is all about giving your time, energy, and skills to support community organisations, learning more about the needs of our communities, and helping to improve the health and wellbeing of people. Each and every one of my colleagues has done this by volunteering, helping people become healthier and happier, and supporting the NHS.

But it’s not just the communities that benefit, volunteering has advantages for colleagues too. I’m delighted to hear that 99% off colleagues said they enjoyed their day and felt they had made a tangible impact, and would recommend volunteering to their colleagues.

We know that volunteering can help improve general wellbeing by enabling colleagues to get outdoors, spend time with their teams and feel good about making a difference.

It also gives people the chance to learn new skills which they otherwise may not have explored, as well as improving our professional skills in a new setting, like public speaking, presenting and problem solving.

Thank you!

I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone at NHSPS for the time they have given and the difference they are making. We’re excited to see what more is to come!