National Association of 
Voluntary Services Managers

Lead, promote and develop best practice in 
Volunteer Management in the NHS and Healthcare

Best Practice Policy Writing

 

Policy Writing

 

For the majority of issues (e.g. Recruitment checks, Health & Safety, Equal Opportunities), the work of VSMs will be governed by Trust-wide policies and therefore VSMs should speak to the relevant department (eg HR) to get copies of their Trust’s policies.

 

There should also be a Policy in place that is specific to Volunteering. This may be called different things in different Trusts for example: Trust Volunteers Policy, Volunteering Policy or Volunteer Services Policy. This is likely to be already in place (unless the VSM role has just been created) but you should check to see if an existing version is due for review.

 

You may be required to draft this policy yourself but at the very least, your input should be sought when this is either being drafted or reviewed.

 

There are as many types of Volunteers Policy as there are Trusts and any policy that you write or help write should be in line with your own Trust’s guidance (your Trust may have a guidance document for you to follow). If you do not have anything in place then the following example from the

 

Volunteering England website is a good starting point:

http://www.volunteering.org.uk/resources/goodpracticebank/Core+Themes/volunteerpolicies/Example+Policy+for+Including+Volunteers

 

Your input may also be sought when other related policies (e.g. Expert Patient consultation programmes) are being drafted or reviewed.

 

A number of local procedures, specific to Voluntary Services will follow from Trust policies. You may be required to either draft these yourself or contribute to the process. Written Procedures are useful in clarifying roles and remits and the areas of responsibility of different individuals / wards / depts.