Healthwatch Cambridgeshire recognised for volunteer work with national award

Healthwatch Cambridgeshire and Peterborough has been recognised for its volunteer work with a national award.

The independent champion for people using health and care services across the county won the Investing in Volunteers quality award, which recognises good practice in how an organisation recruits, trains and supports its volunteers.

Volunteers, known as ‘community listeners’, gather people’s experiences of health and social care services before sharing this feedback with managers of local services to help improve these and encourage these services to involve residents in any changes.

MORE: Healthwatch Cambridgeshire calls for residents to share their coronavirus lockdown experiences

Work on the award began in September 2019 with the assessment, which involved interviews with 19 volunteers and staff, took place during the coronavirus lockdown.

Heather Lord, volunteer manager at Healthwatch, said: “It’s fantastic news and we can’t wait to celebrate with our volunteers.

“The award is a real boost for our whole team. We are really proud of what our volunteers do and help us to achieve.”