Volunteer advisory forum news and update

Volunteer representatives from all of our volunteer sections got together on Friday (5^th May) for the second forum of the year.

Known as VAF and formally introduced in January, the forum gives people the opportunity to air ideas, concerns, and queries both on behalf of their teams and about volunteering in general.

Amongst many updates from the community collaboration team, the Trust User Group and Patient Transport Services, the meeting also heard from Lead Chaplain Lynda Logan about the history of chaplaincy and the array of services Lynda and the team provide.

Volunteer Engagement Officer Carissa Tucker and Community First Responder Administrator Rebecca Dawson were introduced to the volunteer reps, and Trust Secretary Laila Abraham was joined by Navrita Atwal, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead, to talk about a grant-based volunteer programme underway in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

Kevin Brown, Director of Service Delivery and VAF Chair, said: “This latest meeting was a fantastic opportunity to keep moving the volunteer agenda forward, and I was really pleased that we had such a variety of contributions and discussion points.

“What is clear from our volunteers is that recruitment and retention, straightforward everyday processes, training and development, and more cohesion are everyone’s priorities - we hope with the new roles that Carissa and Rebecca are in, we can really bolster the support we give to our volunteers.”

Published 11th May, 2017