Healthwatch Northamptonshire receives Investing In Volunteers award
Volunteer Lead, Becky Calcraft said:
"We are delighted to achieve Investing in Volunteers. I am extremely proud of our diverse team of committed volunteers. They contribute significant amounts of time and energy to make a difference in local health and social care services, and we work hard to ensure that they have the training and support they need."
One of the ways we support Healthwatch volunteers is through training. For example, earlier this year, Becky hosted a free Dementia Friendly session for staff and volunteers (Facebook post below). Sessions like this one show how passionate the team is about highlighting topical health issues and shaping health and social care services locally.
Healthwatch Northamptonshire volunteers are working hard to ensure people's voices are heard in the community and we are all very pleased to receive the award.
When asked about their biggest achievements, our volunteers said:
"Being able to listen to the service users and take their experiences to help service providers identify gaps in services along with shaping future service provision."
"Seeing change happen due to Healthwatch action and data they have collected."
"The work the group did on the move of children's centre services to libraries - was a fabulous group of volunteers doing the work and an insightful report."
Investing in Volunteers is the UK quality standard for all organisations involving volunteers. Investing in Volunteers 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, Volunteer Scotland, Volunteer Now in Northern Ireland and Wales Council for Voluntary Action.
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, volunteer involvement, recruiting volunteers, selecting and matching volunteers and supporting and retaining volunteers.
Healthwatch Northamptonshire was assessed against a range of best practice standards and proved to excel in all aspects of working with its volunteers.
Healthwatch Northamptonshire works to help local people get the best out of their local health and social care services, whether it's improving them today or helping to shape them for tomorrow. It gives people a powerful voice in Northamptonshire and nationally. Healthwatch is all about local voices being able to influence the delivery and design of local services. Not just people who use them, but anyone who might need to in future.
Find out more about volunteering for Healthwatch Northamptonshire
