About
Healthwatch Gloucestershire is the county’s independent health and social care champion. It is publicly funded and exists to ensure that people are at the heart of care. We do this by speaking up for ...
Engagement Volunteer
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Summary
Engagement volunteers play an important role in speaking, and listening, to people in the community about their views on local publicly funded services.Detailed description
Engagement volunteers play an important role in speaking, and listening, to people in the community about their views on local publicly funded health and social care services. This helps to ensure that the views of local people are heard.
By people sharing their experiences with us Healthwatch Gloucestershire (HWG) can ensure that these are fed back to the health and social care providers, and decision makers, in Gloucestershire to help influence how services are changed / developed / improved.
Engagement can be on a face-to-face basis, via the phone or via online platforms such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom.
Why become an Engagement Volunteer?
We have a vital role to play in ensuring that the people in Gloucestershire are engaged, listened to and provided with an opportunity to tell us their views and opinions.
You will be an essential part of our team in ensuring people’s voices are collected and heard in the right places.
Therefore, if you like talking and listening to people, are friendly and approachable and are passionate about enabling the people of Gloucestershire to have a voice this could be the role for you!
What this role can involve:
· Working with other HWG volunteers and staff to reach out into different communities to collate people’s views on health and social care services
· Supporting engagement activities with other volunteers and staff e.g. manning a HWG information stand at events / community areas
· Engaging people using online platforms e.g. Zoom, Microsoft Teams or via the phone
· Supporting HWG projects by engaging with members of the public to seek their views
· Being an ambassador for HWG by talking to, and gathering views of, the public and reporting this back to us
· Keeping a record of people’s experiences and sharing these with HWG in order that they are appropriately recorded
· Supporting HWG to conduct surveys and consultations with local people
· Representing HWG at local meetings and / or health and social care networking events
· Social get-togethers with other volunteers
* you do not have to commit to all of these activities; we are keen to work with you to ensure that you undertake work with HWG that aligns with your own interests, knowledge, experience and available time
Personal requirements:
· Good communication and listening skills with the ability to engage with people to support them to share their views
· Enjoy, and be comfortable with, talking to members of the public from a range of backgrounds and about possibly sensitive issues
· Be warm and approachable
· Be able to maintain impartiality in order to appropriately present the views of the people you have spoken to (you should not allow your own experiences to influence your views)
· Be able to work alongside other HWG volunteers and staff
· Be able to understand, and manage, the boundaries associated with the role
· Be able to demonstrate an understanding of responsibilities associated with safeguarding, data protection and equality and diversity, completing training when required
· Represent HWG appropriately during volunteering activities (also see Code of Conduct Policy)
· Computer skills, including Microsoft Word (we would not wish this to be a barrier and will work with you to overcome any challenges associated with this)
Support available:
· Regular contact with the HWG Volunteer Officer or HWG Team to provide you with support and guidance throughout
· Reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses, in accordance with the appropriate policy
· Access to training as deemed necessary and appropriate
How much time is involved:
· Our volunteering roles are flexible and we will work with you to fit around your schedule and personal commitments
· There is no specific requirement to undertake a set number of activities or hours every week or month. A lot of our opportunities are on an ad-hoc basis
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check:
You will not be required to undertake a DBS check unless an activity you undertake involves working with vulnerable adults. If this is the case HWG will cover the cost.
To apply, please click 'Join' and you will be asked a short question. We will then be in touch to discuss the next steps with you.
What we will provide to volunteers
💸 Reimbursement of costsAbout Healthwatch Gloucestershire
Dedicated teams of staff and volunteers listen to what people like about local health and care services, and what could be improved. This is done through public engagement events e.g. having stands at the Big Health Check (Gloucester) and Health and Wellbeing event (Cirencester), on-going project work which volunteers support by speaking to the public about their experiences and generally raising awareness of Healthwatch Gloucestershire within networks. These views are then shared with the decision-making organisations, so together a real difference can be made.
In addition we are also responsible for undertaking Enter and View visits across publicly funded health and social care premises to speak to people about their experiences of using the service; this information is collated into a report, with key messages and recommendations, and shared with the provider of the service, the Care Quality Commission, Gloucestershire County Council and NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group, Healthwatch England and any other relevant partners. . We are keen to recruit more volunteers to help us with this and further information about this can be found on our website.
Healthwatch was introduced as a result of The Health and Social Care Act of 2012 which put people at the centre of their health and social care. A Healthwatch organisation was set up in every local authority area across England. Each one is a key part of its local community, and works in partnership with other organisations in its area. For Healthwatch Gloucestershire, this includes Gloucestershire County Council, the NHS, local hospitals and voluntary organisations and covers the districts and boroughs of Cheltenham, Cotswolds, Forest of Dean, Gloucester, Stroud, and Tewkesbury.