More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
More than 750,000 volunteers who signed up following the government's call to arms to help the NHS are now able to report for duty.
The huge group, from which there are thousands in Kent, will be catering to the needs for 2.5 million vulnerable people while the country remains on lockdown.
Named NHS Volunteer Responders, their roles will include delivering medicines from pharmacies, driving patients to appointments, bringing them home from hospital, making regular check-up phone calls, and transporting medical supplies and equipment for the NHS.
The call for volunteers received an unprecedented response, with three-quarter-of-a-million people signing up within just four days.
In what is a huge effort to conduct, health professionals, pharmacists and local authorities can upload requests for help on the NHS Volunteer Responders referrer’s portal.
The army of volunteers, of which a portion will be offered protective masks via the GoodSAM app, will then pick the job they want to do that day before carrying out the task. They show themselves as available when their app is switched to ‘on duty’.
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall - the president of the organiser charity Royal Voluntary Service - has praised those who put themselves forward.
"Everyone working in the NHS is under unimaginable pressure day and night in this crisis," she said.
"I feel sure that the presence of so many wonderful volunteers will encourage, as well as support, them. I salute each one of you - and thank you with all my heart.”
Volunteers are currently being paired up with vulnerable people in their local area to perform the tasks they have signed up to do.
The GoodSAM app is set to be tested to the extreme but its co-founder is confident the complexities of each vulnerable person will be catered for.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “I want to thank every single person who signed up to be a NHS Volunteer Responder – their incredible generosity means we can now start helping those most in need across our communities and, in turn, support our heroic NHS staff and social care staff as they continue their outstanding work.
“Coronavirus is one of the greatest challenges our country has faced, and it is truly awe inspiring to see our whole nation coming together to help each other at this difficult time.”
For more information visit royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk or to the NHS England website.
