The Pennine Lancashire Volunteer Project Report

A new report has been published outlining the Pennine Lancashire Volunteer Project. The project, funded by Health Education England (HEE), has been two years in the making and was set up to review volunteer services across the NHS, Local Authority and Voluntary, Community, Faith Social Enterprise to develop a holistic approach to supporting volunteers in the Healthier Pennine Lancashire Integrated Care Partnership.

Launched in 2017, the Pennine Lancashire Volunteer Project was a two-year initiative involving 12 organisations from across the Pennine Lancashire footprint that formed the project partnership working group. This working group represents thousands of active volunteers deployed in Health and Social Care and has worked to develop a project that is supported by a strong spirit of partnership and co-production. Their work has been Inspired by the ‘Five ways to wellbeing’ ethos and is in line with the Lampard Report (2015) and Kings Fund Review (2018). 

“We wanted to support the aspirations found within the Pennine Plan for ‘One Workforce’ which includes a greater and more effective use of voluntary services to support health and social care within the community,” said Kate Quinn, Director of HR & Workforce at East Lancashire Hospitals Trust and Associate Director for Workforce for the Healthier Pennine Lancashire Integrated Care Partnership. “Our specific aim was to develop a holistic approach across the NHS, Local Authority and Voluntary Community and Faith Sectors. Volunteering plays a huge role in bringing communities together and improving health and wellbeing of not only our service users, but our volunteers as well.”  

Maggie Asquith, Pennine Lancashire Volunteer Project Lead said, “It’s been a real privilege to work with the people of Pennine Lancashire who devote so much of their time to volunteering. I have been particularly impressed by our partner organisations who have given their time, energy and skills to support the project to achieve all its aims. There is a huge appetite to embrace partnership working and we have only started to realise the potential for better integration of voluntary services that will make real impact. I hope we can build on the learning from this project to support further development”

In addition to the volunteer project report a set of guidance documents are also available with recommendations on how to show recognition to volunteers and how to provide peer support. You can find the guidance and full report here. 

Please click here to read the Executive Summary.