Healthwatch Birmingham achieves Investing in Volunteers

Healthwatch Birmingham has recently achieved the Investing in Volunteers Quality Standard, which recognises the commitment in our work with volunteers.

Investing in Volunteers is the UK quality standard for all organisations involving volunteers. It aims to improve the quality of the volunteering experience for all volunteers and for organisations to acknowledge the enormous contribution made by volunteers. Investing in Volunteers is managed by the UK Volunteering Forum and delivered by NCVO in England.
Involving volunteers in more of Healthwatch Birmingham’s work has seen people have more opportunities to take part in community engagement activities, build their skills through training and support more patients to engage with us about their health and social care experiences.
Hanna Nadershahi, Volunteer and Community Offer at Healthwatch Birmingham said: “Achieving such an accreditation is testament to the hard work and commitment of volunteers and staff working together. Our volunteer team is a key part of all of the successes we have achieved. Their skills, life experience and passion for supporting people is making such a difference in engaging and listening within local communities.”
Healthwatch Birmingham’s work to involve local people as Community Champion volunteers through our Community Offer initiative, has also seen more volunteers being trained to provide peer listening to local people.
“Volunteering at Healthwatch has helped me gain confidence and taught me many skills,” stated one volunteer through our recent Volunteer Impact Survey. There has been a 200% increase in volunteering hours in 2018, with volunteers stating that their experience of getting involved is excellent in the survey.
Healthwatch Birmingham was assessed against a range of best practice standards, demonstrating our outstanding work with our volunteer team.
Investing in Volunteers is unique in that it is the only standard that focuses on volunteers. It is based on four areas of volunteer management; planning for volunteer involvement, recruiting volunteers, selecting and match volunteers and supporting and retaining volunteers.
Further information about the Standard can be found at www.iiv.investinginvolunteers.org.uk.