Earlier today, Martin attended an Urgent Question to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care regarding the volunteer and care service.
The programme was established in March 2020 to support people during the Covid-19 pandemic. Volunteers work alongside healthcare professionals and offer non-clinical support to help streamline operations with the aim of improving both staff and patient experiences. Volunteer roles include local shopping or prescription delivery, telephone support and stewarding support for vaccine centres.
Since its establishment, 2.7 million tasks and shifts have been completed, including 1.1 million Telephone Support calls and 392,000 Steward shifts. It has now been confirmed that the programme will close at the end of May 2025 due to funding issues and the context of changes affecting NHS England. Patients are being directed to GPs and local services as an alternative to request support, liking adding additional pressure on these services.
Martin contributed to the debate, making the following comments to the Minister for Secondary Care, Karin Smyth MP:
Martin Vickers
This appears to be another rather muddled decision from the Government. The Minister has acknowledged that these volunteers provide a vital service, but if they want to continue they now have the inconvenience of going to the new portal, registering and so on. Would it not have been better at least to maintain the current arrangements until a new alternative was in place? By the time we have provided extra support to medical professionals and so on during the interim, will it have saved any money at all?
Karin Smyth
I am afraid that I have to disagree with the hon. Gentleman—it is not muddled. The analysis undertaken by NHS England indicates that the current system is not providing good value for money, and we are making sure that we produce something better for the future. This Government will continue to act in the best interests of volunteers, patients and taxpayers in setting up the NHS of the future.
You can read the full debate online here: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2025-05-19/debates/3C9707A8-7619-…
