Volunteer army services for people shielding

[Egghead68]

Has anyone had any luck accessing these (the NHS army of 750,000 volunteers/GoodSam)?

The latest I have heard is that if you want to register for help you need to call the Royal Voluntary Service on 0808 1963382. However when I called them they seemed pretty clueless.

I understand you can also ask your GP to fill in a form to refer you (although this hardly seems a good use of GPs’ time).

@helpfulperson yes. It is a one-man band and they do not have the resources.

@Sandybval yes. I am trying not to be overly cynical it.

Re worries over vetting, many local groups will be vetting their volunteers. I volunteer for our village COVID group, which is built around our youth club, so safeguarding is a high priority. My DBS check came through really quickly - within 48 hours - a couple of weeks ago. Obviously, this won't be true for all groups, but if anyone is worried, they can ask about the vetting procedure.

Where we are, our group has a large number of volunteers, and I have only done a couple of tasks a week - and I had to be quick off the mark to get those! The main requests are shopping and prescriptions.

Thanks @WinterIsGone!