@TheCountessofFitzdotterel
In my area, volunteers have been helping deliver letters inviting people for vaccines, providing the Community Transport service to take people without transport to the hub, delivering sandwiches to staff and acting as marshals to direct people the right way and show them where to park- the actual medical stuff and sensitive data roles that need training are only a small part of the effort.
Obviously not everyone has the physical fitness to help at all though.
In my LA;
Vaccines are not offered by hand delivered letter. Those currently invited to book are getting emailed links through their employer, or texts and phone calls via their GP. Hand delivered letters are not seen as confidential, so this wouldn’t be acceptable in our Trust.
Most of the hospital hubs and GP vaccination centres are staffed by their staff in terms of watching over the queue. The hospitals have taken on additional security staff, reception staff are working extra hours at the two GPs offering the vaccine to stand outside. The council employed Covid Marshalls (paid staff) may be called upon and deployed there if necessary to man car parks.
Volunteers aren’t making or delivering sandwiches to staff where I live. Some local businesses (fish and chips shops, Subway etc) have offered but there were some safety concerns in the height of the pandemic. In the hospital hub, this would be the job of the catering services although the long-standing “trolley volunteers” may take food across, these volunteers again have been cut down to reduce to staff and patients risk to outside exposure. Some CEV porters have been redeployed so they may be called upon. In the two GPs centres staff have been warned not to accept food from outside.
Community transport is mainly being offered through the LA, the ambulance service and some trusted taxi firms that usually transport children to special schools, especially now that the schools are closed.
The CoronaKindness voluntary organisation is still in full swing but they are not involved with vaccinations in any way.
I can only speak for my LA.