Investing in Volunteers for NHS Boards in Scotland
Investing in Volunteers is the UK award, managed in Scotland by Volunteer Development Scotland, which recognises commitment to high quality volunteer involvement.
Unlike other quality awards IiV has a unique focus on volunteering, giving NHS Boards the opportunity to improve and develop practice -
making a good organisation even better.
39 organisations in Scotland have already achieved IiV, and seen for themselves the benefits of developing their volunteer management standards to match the Investing in Volunteers standards. These include CHAS (Childrens’ Hospice Association Scotland); Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland; Children 1st and Arthritis Care Scotland.
Three NHS boards have recently achieved the Investing in Vounteers standard -
NHS Lanarkshire (VDS Member)
NHS Lothian (VDS Member) and
NWTCB (National Waiting Times Centre Board)
The Investing in Volunteers standards are broken down into 10 indicators covering the four main areas of volunteer management:
- Planning for volunteer involvement
- Recruiting volunteers
- Selecting and matching volunteers
- Supporting and retaining volunteers
The process has been broken down into 10 easy steps. It is important to note that assessment is not just a “checklist”. Approved IiV Advisors have been assigned to each Board to provide advice and guidance through the process; and when the Board is ready for assessment, an approved assessor will be appointed to interview staff and volunteers to evaluate how practice is experienced.
The IiV standard can be downloaded from the
Investing in Volunteers website, which also contains
Good Practice information and
Guidance Notes for registered NHS Boards in the password protected areas.