Volunteering for Health Birmingham and Solihull

What is Volunteering for Health?

Volunteering for Health is a £10 million national programme led by NHS England, NHS Charities Together and CW+ to strengthen the role of volunteering in health and social care. Over three years, 15 areas - including Birmingham and Solihull - will test new approaches, tackle barriers to volunteering, and share learning across the NHS. The programme builds on recommendations from the NHS Volunteering Taskforce, which set out a five-year vision to expand and improve volunteering across the health service.

The Birmingham & Solihull Programme is a partnership between:

BVSC
Birmingham Women's & Childrens NHS Foundation Trust, and
Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

What does Volunteering for Health mean for Birmingham and Solihull?

Birmingham and Solihull programme aims to:

Create links between volunteering, healthier lifestyles and career opportunities - for example through school projects, work experience and apprenticeships.
Work with volunteers to make opportunities more inclusive and accessible, especially for young people and underrepresented groups.
Develop new volunteering roles focused on reducing health inequalities.
Improve the volunteer experience through easier access to finding opportunities.

Why get involved?

Volunteering your time within health and care settings locally is a great way to:

Give something back to your community
Support patients, families and staff
Learn new skills and build confidence
Be part of a friendly team making a real difference.

How to get involved

There are three main ways to get involved in volunteering through the Volunteering for Health project:

Youth Volunteering with Birmingham Women’s & Children’s NHS Foundation Trust.
Community Volunteering with Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
Explore other local health volunteering opportunities through the BVSC platform, Volunteer Brum.

Youth Volunteering

These opportunities are designed specifically for young people aged 14-21 who are interested in exploring careers in health and care. Participants get involved in short ‘micro-projects’ during school holidays, each linked to a different clinical area. Some projects last just a few hours, while others run over several days or weeks – offering valuable insight into the world of healthcare.

To express an interest in youth volunteering, please complete the short form below.

Apply for youth volunteering opportunities

Download a flyer (opens as pdf)
Download a poster (opens as pdf)

Community Volunteering

Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Trust is developing a range of roles for people who want to give their time and skills to support patients, staff, and the wider community.

Opportunities may include:

Ward Activity Volunteers – Supporting the enhanced care team to do activities and games with patients in day room on wards. This has successfully been piloted through our partnership with BCU dual-nursing course at MHH.
End of Life Volunteers – Setting up a partnership with the Ann Robson Charity to provide community and inpatient volunteers to offer companionship to end of life patients.
Health Promotion/ Patient Experience Volunteers – Promoting vaccination and immunisation information to staff, patients, visitors and in the community. Also surveying patients and asking them to complete the Friends and Family tests (FFTs).
Charity and Fundraising Volunteers – Supporting the charity at events, promoting charity schemes, running the charity hub and fundraising for the charity.
Green Spaces/ Staff and Visitor Wellbeing Volunteers – Maintaining green spaces across the trust and offering wellbeing sessions for staff and visitors
Wayfinding Volunteers – Supporting visitors and patients to find their way around sites
Other volunteering roles: Community connexions, discharge support, DNA reduction

We welcome individual volunteers who can give a few hours a week, a day a month, or help on a one-off basis; whatever fits your schedule. Anyone aged 18 and over can apply. As long as you are a compassionate and dependable person who enjoys working with others to make a difference; no previous volunteering experience is necessary, just enthusiasm and a willingness to get involved!

To apply, email your expression of interest to The Birmingham Community Healthcare volunteering team. Tell them about your desired role and what your motivation is to get involved. We will send you a link to an application form where you can provide more details about yourself. We'll arrange a short informal chat to learn more about you and match you to the right opportunity. Please note that all volunteers will need to complete some mandatory training and a DBS check before starting their role with us.

Email your expression of interest

Other local health volunteering opportunities

Explore other routes to volunteering on the Volunteering for Health page of Volunteer Brum. You'll find a list of current opportunities to volunteer with health related programmes and initiatives in both the NHS and the wider voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector.

Explore Volunteer Brum

Useful links:

Volunteer Brum
Volunteering at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust
Volunteering at Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Get in touch!

If you have any questions about Volunteering for Health Birmngham & Solihull please email us: [email protected].

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