Introduction

This report provides a snapshot of volunteering in the NHS. It is intended to be a follow up to the 1995/6 survey featured in the NHS Executive report Making a Difference: Strengthening Volunteering in the NHS.

Methods

The survey was carried out in 1997/8 by postal questionnaire to the Chief Executives of all English NHS Trusts (429 in total). The final return of 316 completed questionnaires represented a response rate of 74 per cent on the total number issued.

The Findings

Over half (53 per cent) of Trusts surveyed categorised themselves as General Acute. Thirty nine per cent saw themselves as Community Trusts; 34 per cent as Mental Health Trusts; 10 per cent as Ambulance and 21 per cent as some `other' type of Trust. A number saw themselves as falling into more than one category. 

In total over 36,000 volunteers were involved in the 257 Trusts able to provide information on numbers, an average of some 140 volunteers per Trust. This average masks a great deal of variety between Trusts. Thus whilst a third involved between 101 and 250 volunteers and 15 per cent in excess of 250, nine per cent of Trusts involved less than 10 volunteers.

Comparing these findings with those from the previous survey we find a decline in the average number of volunteers per organisation, down from 166 in the 1995/6 survey to 140. However the 1995/6 figure may not be strictly comparable with the current survey because it is possible that it included some volunteers active in the Trust attached to independent voluntary organisations. In contrast the 1997/8 survey made a clear distinction between 'core' volunteers involved directly by the Trust and those involved through voluntary agencies.