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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2018/jan/11/nhs-winter-crisis-volunteers-public-services
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| The NHS is in crisis. But it's not up to volunteers to rescue it | The NHS is in crisis. But it's not up to volunteers to rescue it |
| (25 days later) | |
| With another winter crisis in the NHS fully upon us, many in the voluntary sector are once again waiting for the call to provide resources to help our hospitals. | With another winter crisis in the NHS fully upon us, many in the voluntary sector are once again waiting for the call to provide resources to help our hospitals. |
| A year ago, that call was answered by the Red Cross, when its chief executive described the situation as a humanitarian crisis. But what assistance can the voluntary and charity sector provide, and even if it could, should it? | A year ago, that call was answered by the Red Cross, when its chief executive described the situation as a humanitarian crisis. But what assistance can the voluntary and charity sector provide, and even if it could, should it? |
| This is a question with which the public sector has struggled for some time. Local councils have suffered cuts at an unprecedented scale and have increasingly looked to charitable activity to support services they used to provide. Councillors have weighed up whether community centres and libraries can be run, or owned, by community and voluntary groups. In Lambeth, attempts have even been made to get volunteers to keep the streets clean. | This is a question with which the public sector has struggled for some time. Local councils have suffered cuts at an unprecedented scale and have increasingly looked to charitable activity to support services they used to provide. Councillors have weighed up whether community centres and libraries can be run, or owned, by community and voluntary groups. In Lambeth, attempts have even been made to get volunteers to keep the streets clean. |
| So far, councils have focused on non-statutory services and there have been a number of very positive initiatives, from using volunteers to work with individuals such as care leavers, or groups like the Citizen’s Advice Bureau helping with benefit advice. But there is an increasing tendency for central government to look to a reserve army of volunteers to prop up services it is statutorily required to deliver, including immigration, with a suggestion of overcoming staff shortages by using volunteer border officers; schools, with the idea of volunteers replacing teaching assistants; and health, with the suggestion volunteers could flood the hospitals to make things better. | So far, councils have focused on non-statutory services and there have been a number of very positive initiatives, from using volunteers to work with individuals such as care leavers, or groups like the Citizen’s Advice Bureau helping with benefit advice. But there is an increasing tendency for central government to look to a reserve army of volunteers to prop up services it is statutorily required to deliver, including immigration, with a suggestion of overcoming staff shortages by using volunteer border officers; schools, with the idea of volunteers replacing teaching assistants; and health, with the suggestion volunteers could flood the hospitals to make things better. |
| But the notion that volunteers can save the NHS is misplaced. If the problem is a shortage of beds and ambulances, with a dearth of doctors and nurses, volunteers are not going to get anyone very far. | But the notion that volunteers can save the NHS is misplaced. If the problem is a shortage of beds and ambulances, with a dearth of doctors and nurses, volunteers are not going to get anyone very far. |
| Volunteers are particularly good at helping with less technical tasks that do not carry a lot of risk and that are often about relationships. If volunteers talk to people waiting in A&E, that can take pressure away from frontline professionals. Volunteers can often do this better than public servants who – inevitably and rightly – are tied up in formal systems that can make it difficult to build the relationships that are so important for patients. | Volunteers are particularly good at helping with less technical tasks that do not carry a lot of risk and that are often about relationships. If volunteers talk to people waiting in A&E, that can take pressure away from frontline professionals. Volunteers can often do this better than public servants who – inevitably and rightly – are tied up in formal systems that can make it difficult to build the relationships that are so important for patients. |
| There are some interesting initiatives. Community interest company HelpForce, for instance, is a new attempt to organise mass volunteering a bit better, and provide support for the NHS. It is well funded, and it will be interesting to see what it can achieve. But we need to recognise the limitations of organisations like this. However good they are, they cannot reduce waiting lists, A&E waiting times, or help recruit more doctors and nurses. | There are some interesting initiatives. Community interest company HelpForce, for instance, is a new attempt to organise mass volunteering a bit better, and provide support for the NHS. It is well funded, and it will be interesting to see what it can achieve. But we need to recognise the limitations of organisations like this. However good they are, they cannot reduce waiting lists, A&E waiting times, or help recruit more doctors and nurses. |
| Rather than be deployed in times of crisis when demand is high, the voluntary sector is most effective at reducing demand for public services in the first place. Volunteers can, for instance, help people stay in their homes, rather than be admitted to hospital. They can offer help for recently-discharged patients, allowing doctors to free up more beds. More widely, our own research shows that it’s good for people’s health when they are involved with their local community and voluntary sector. | Rather than be deployed in times of crisis when demand is high, the voluntary sector is most effective at reducing demand for public services in the first place. Volunteers can, for instance, help people stay in their homes, rather than be admitted to hospital. They can offer help for recently-discharged patients, allowing doctors to free up more beds. More widely, our own research shows that it’s good for people’s health when they are involved with their local community and voluntary sector. |
| Volunteers cannot reduce waiting lists, A&E waiting times or help recruit more doctors and nurses | Volunteers cannot reduce waiting lists, A&E waiting times or help recruit more doctors and nurses |
| But when the NHS faces a winter crisis, even if the voluntary sector could help, is it the role of charities to bail out a public service that the state has allowed to run behind demand? | But when the NHS faces a winter crisis, even if the voluntary sector could help, is it the role of charities to bail out a public service that the state has allowed to run behind demand? |
| Many people feel the answer is no. Volunteers do not like to be seen as a cheap source of mass labour, there to undercut paid professionals. And they do not like the idea that they might be used to let politicians off the hook when they have failed to finance public services properly. They also wonder if running services through volunteers is, in the end, sustainable. | Many people feel the answer is no. Volunteers do not like to be seen as a cheap source of mass labour, there to undercut paid professionals. And they do not like the idea that they might be used to let politicians off the hook when they have failed to finance public services properly. They also wonder if running services through volunteers is, in the end, sustainable. |
| Arguably, there is a role for volunteers and charities and community groups alongside public services, especially where the key requirement is the ability to empathise with a family or an individual. | Arguably, there is a role for volunteers and charities and community groups alongside public services, especially where the key requirement is the ability to empathise with a family or an individual. |
| But what Jeremy Hunt and other politicians must not do is to treat the generous spirit of volunteers as a panacea for the problems of underfunded and under supported public services. It is wrong and, worse, it won’t work. | But what Jeremy Hunt and other politicians must not do is to treat the generous spirit of volunteers as a panacea for the problems of underfunded and under supported public services. It is wrong and, worse, it won’t work. |
| Dan Corry is the chief executive of New Philanthropy Capital | Dan Corry is the chief executive of New Philanthropy Capital |
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