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Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is the first NHS trust in the North East to achieve the Investing in Volunteers Quality Standard. The hospital was applauded in a recent article in The Guardian for its pilot volunteer programme that seeks to increase the number of volunteers to reduce stress and pressure levels faced by paid staff, without replacing them. Lynne McCormack, who lead the IiV assessment process, sums it up as “excellent from start to finish”. 

After achieving IiV for four times, Emily Henderson at Home-Start Westminster reflects on the impact of the programme on her organisation and the relevance for the social care sector. 

We asked IiV achievers what the impact of IiV has been on their staff members. Here are the results: 

Last year, Dorothy House Hospice Care achieved the IiV quality mark for the fourth time in a row. Stephen Dale, Head of Community Partnerships at the organisation, gives advice on how to benefit from the IiV accreditation and discusses the relevance of IiV for the healthcare sector. 

Who is in a better position to give advice on how to best approach the various stages in the IiV assessment process than its achievers? Have a look at their top tips to guide you in preparing for IiV; completing your self-assessment and development plan; and getting the most out of your IiV award. 

Has your organisation recently achieved IiV? Fellow achievers share their expertise on how to get the most out of your award: 

We have asked IiV achievers to share their knowledge and expertise with other organisations looking to start their IiV journey. These are some of their suggestions: 

After achieving IiV no less than four times, Sally Dyson at Norfolk & Norwich University NHS Trust reflects on the value of IiV for her organisation and the healthcare sector. 

As IiV Programme Manager, the number 1 concern I hear from organisations about to start Investing in Volunteers (IiV) is time constraints. When I go out and meet organisations the first question they ask is “how long does it take?”. I wish I could give them a definitive answer but it varies from organisation to organisation; factors such as number of staff involved, how embedded a volunteer programme is and how much of a priority IiV is within the organisation impact on the length of time taken to achieve. The majority of achievers take between 6-12 months.