Community Response Volunteer

Getting You Started Guide

Community Response Volunteers help with a range of activities including collecting and delivering food shopping, essential items, prescriptions and where eligible, lateral flow tests for immunocompromised people, to a diverse range of people living within their local community.

Healthcare professionals can refer people waiting to be admitted to hospital or those who have just been discharged or people can self-refer themselves for support.

The volunteer support for this doorstep delivery service is available either as a one-off or once a week for a maximum of 6 weeks. 

All requests for support will come from the GoodSAM app as an alert.

Volunteers will receive 6 alerts (one per week) to support the same person for a 6 week period, this will be a new alert each week. If a volunteer doesn’t accept the alert within a 10-minute time-frame it will be passed onto another volunteer.

If a volunteer is not available for the 6 weeks continuously, they can reject an alert and this support will pass onto the next available volunteer. When calling a person to discuss the support required, be mindful that they may have received support from a different volunteer in previous weeks.

You will support a range of people in diverse communities, and we ask that make sure everyone feels supported, welcomed and valued for who they are.

Further information on how you can support people with accessibility needs and learn about different backgrounds and communities can be found in our Inclusion Hub.

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Page last reviewed: 19 February 2024