Royal Voluntary Service marks 80 years with pledge to ‘scale up’ NHS support

The Royal Voluntary Service is pledging to increase support in the NHS as it celebrates its 80th anniversary.

The organisation was founded in 1938 as the Women’s Voluntary Service, to help recruit women into the Air Raid Precautions (ARP) movement and help civilians during and after air raids.

The RVS now has 25,000 volunteers who help thousands of people in hospital, at home and in the community, such as running lunch clubs, serving tea in hospitals and visiting older people.

Chief executive Catherine Johnstone said: “We are very proud of our rich history and as we reach this important milestone, would like to thank each and every one of our volunteers, past and present, who have given so generously of their time to help others.

“Their contribution, not only makes life better for the individuals they touch, but makes communities stronger and helps to relieve pressure on public services.”

“We are looking forward to continuing to make a difference and a key focus for us over the five years in particular is to continue scaling up voluntary support within our much-loved NHS.

“There is a huge opportunity for us and others to do more through the gift of voluntary service and by growing volunteer numbers we hope to relieve some of the pressure on healthcare professionals.”

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