Go on — join the army of the willing to help the NHS

THE new chair of the health and social services monitor, Healthwatch England, is a man on mission. Sir Robert Francis wants every hospital patient to ‘give something back’ by volunteering to work in the NHS once they get better.

An ‘army of the willing’ is how he describes them.

Yes! Volunteers are the backbone of the health service and we need more. I’ve been really humbled by some of those I’ve come across in my work — mostly older, retired people, I have to say.

But I believe that the younger generation — so vociferous in its defence of the NHS against ‘Tory cuts’ — should take note. Giving up one day a month, perhaps a Saturday or Sunday, to help out is surely not too much to ask?

I remember one patient, a Mrs Mullen, who’d just got a new hip after waiting a year. Even though she was recovering from a major operation, she wanted to make her bed every day to save the nurses from having to do it. She was 83 years old!

Weeks after being discharged, she was back in the hospital, working in the ‘Friends’ shop. ‘What are you doing here?’ I asked. ‘You’re supposed to be taking things easy.’

‘Oh I am!’ she replied. ‘It’s only a few hours a week. It’s my way of saying thank you for all this hospital has done for me.’

It’s people like Mrs Mullen who keep the NHS ticking along, so why not do the same? Check out royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk or nhs70.nhs.uk/get-involved/support-thenhs/