They want to hear from different organisations, sectors, volunteering managers, volunteers themselves and anyone else with an interest in volunteering.

The strategy is on one page – WY HCP wanted to keep it simple and focused on what they believe is best done together on a West Yorkshire footprint. 

Context

In West Yorkshire, we believe volunteering contributes to our ambitions to:

• create opportunities to become an active citizen, gain experience and potentially move into work
• strengthen system resilience
• improve patient experience and health and wellbeing outcomes 

In short, we want West Yorkshire to be a positive and rewarding place to volunteer.

The West Yorkshire Integrated Volunteering Approaches Group developed a set of volunteer principles which have been adopted by the Integrated Care Board (ICB). Their ambition is to build on these and to work together to strengthen the role of volunteering across health and care by:

• increasing access and inclusion (including recruitment, support and retention of a diverse range of volunteers)
• enabling volunteer movement across organisations
• agreeing shared and transferable training
• testing new approaches in practice in different health and care settings. 

In order to progress towards their ambition, this draft strategy has been developed.

Strategy

Have Your Say

For Organisations

A range of stakeholder groups are being held to gain feedback and comments on the proposed strategy. These groups cover all sectors and geographies, and of course, volunteers themselves. 

West Yorkshire HCP are asking organisations to consider: 

• Do you identify with the priorities outlined within the strategy? 
• Which part of the strategy is most important to you/your organisation? 
• Would you sign up to the strategy? 
• Do you have any examples of good volunteering practice you can share? 
• What change would you like to see as a result of the strategy being implemented? 
• Do you consent to being contacted further regarding the strategy? 

The feedback form can be accessed here: https://forms.office.com/e/Ud17Bm0q3k

For Your Volunteers

West Yorkshire HCP are keen to ensure they listen to the views of volunteers themselves as part of this process.​ They are asking volunteers to consider these questions: 

• Are the priorities outlined within the strategy important to you as a volunteer?
• Which part of the strategy is most important to you/your organisation?
• Would you be happy for your organisation to sign up to this strategy?
• Does your organisation do anything really well that other organisations with volunteers could learn from?
• What change would you like to see as a result of the strategy being implemented? 
• Do you consent to being contacted further regarding the strategy? 

The feedback form can be accessed here: https://forms.office.com/e/P2QY3p9iGP

The consultation and engagement period runs until the end of July. A final version of the strategy will go to our WY ICB People Board in September.

Thanks for getting involved!