Volunteering for Health brings together the NHS, local councils, and the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) sector to transform how people volunteer, and how their time and skills improve local health and wellbeing. 

The aim is to make volunteering in health and care more inclusive, accessible and rewarding across Hertfordshire and West Essex. 

Our vision 

A joined-up volunteering system that: 

• strengthens community health 

• supports personal growth 

• ensures everyone can contribute and thrive. 

Across Hertfordshire, volunteers are already changing lives – from befriending and transport schemes to support after hospital discharge. But too often, people face barriers that stop them getting involved: repeated DBS checks, duplicated training, rigid hours, or challenges linked to mental health, learning disabilities or neurodiversity. 

At the same time, our hospitals have more people offering to volunteer than they can manage, meaning willing, capable people are often turned away. 

How we’re changing things 

Volunteering for Health is removing these barriers by: 

• introducing a Volunteer Passport so checks and training transfer across organisations 

• simplifying recruitment and recognising shared standards 

• offering support to help people overcome personal or practical barriers 

• strengthening collaboration between NHS trusts, councils, and community partners. 

Together, we’re building a unified, flexible and inclusive volunteering offer that supports the NHS’s long-term vision: shifting the focus from hospital-based treatment to community-based prevention. 

Volunteering for Health: working with the Mental Health, Learning Disability and Neurodiversity partnership 

Community Action Dacorum are working with Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT), through its Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Neurodiversity Partnership, and wider partners from the local authority, health and care sector and VCSFE to support the Volunteering for Health programme – with a focus on access and inclusion for people who face additional barriers to volunteering. 

Our Programme Coordinator will work closely with the Programme Team and wider stakeholders to deliver change for volunteers in our area. 

Get involved

 Join us to help shape the future of volunteering in our community. 

Contact Musarat Inayat, the Volunteering for Health Programme Coordinator at Community Action Dacorum

E-mail – musarat1@communityactiondacorum.org.uk

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Volunteering for Health Herts & West Essex

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