Digital Volunteers
Summary
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust introduced the Digital Volunteers initiative to integrate volunteers into its existing workforce rostering and communication systems through Loop and Optima. By moving away from paper-based rotas and informal processes, the programme created a safer, more visible, and more coordinated approach to managing volunteer activity across the Trust.
Delivered collaboratively between Volunteer Services, rostering teams, recruitment, ESR, and clinical colleagues, the initiative strengthened operational visibility, duty of care, and day-to-day workforce coordination while remaining accessible to volunteers with varying levels of digital confidence. Volunteers felt more included as part of the wider team, staff had greater confidence in volunteer support, and patients benefited from a more reliable and consistent volunteer presence during their care.
The Challenge
Volunteers contribute over 37,000 hours annually and play a vital role in supporting patient experience and flow, yet they were historically managed outside core workforce and safety systems. Volunteer rotas were maintained through paper records and spreadsheets, resulting in limited visibility, inconsistent governance, and avoidable safety risks.
Clinical teams often lacked real-time information on which volunteers were scheduled, whether they had arrived, or where they were working. There was also no reliable process for identifying non-attendance, meaning missed shifts were often only discovered retrospectively. This limited opportunities for timely wellbeing checks, safeguarding interventions, and early support for volunteers, creating risks for both individuals and the organisation.
As operational pressures increased and reliance on volunteers grew, these gaps became more significant. The absence of real-time oversight reduced confidence in deployment, increased lone-working risks, and created inconsistency in escalation processes and assurance.
The challenge was to introduce a safe, inclusive, and proportionate solution that integrated volunteers into existing workforce systems, strengthened safeguarding and duty of care, improved operational visibility, and remained accessible to volunteers with varying levels of digital confidence.
The Solution
A digital volunteer rostering model was introduced through Allocate, creating a dedicated “Digital Volunteers” group with role-appropriate, view-only access. This enabled volunteers to see when and where they were expected while giving clinical teams real-time visibility of planned volunteer support alongside staff rosters.
The programme was delivered collaboratively between Volunteer Services, Allocate system administrators, HR, Recruitment, and ESR teams. Governance arrangements, access controls, occupational codes, pay scales, cost centres, and ESR organisational structures were established to ensure compliance with information governance and data protection requirements. Recruitment and onboarding processes were updated so volunteer activity could be rostered consistently, safely, and transparently.
To support adoption, volunteers received simple, accessible training focused on usability and confidence rather than technical complexity. Feedback mechanisms enabled volunteers to raise issues and suggest improvements, while teams were coached to use the system proactively for planning and deployment.
Rather than creating a separate process, volunteers were embedded into existing workforce systems and governance structures. This provided greater visibility, strengthened safeguarding and duty of care, improved operational planning, and recognised volunteers as an integral part of the wider workforce while respecting the unique nature of voluntary roles.
Results & Next Steps
The introduction of Digital Volunteers has delivered significant improvements in safety, workforce coordination, and patient experience. By integrating volunteers into the Allocate rostering system, teams now have real-time visibility of volunteer attendance, deployment, and planned support, enabling more effective daily operational planning and reducing uncertainty at ward and service level.
A key benefit has been the ability to identify non-attendance promptly and undertake timely wellbeing checks, strengthening safeguarding processes and reinforcing the organisation’s duty of care to volunteers. This has improved assurance while reducing risks associated with lone working or unnoticed absences.
Volunteers report feeling more valued, included, and connected to their teams, with greater clarity around shifts, placements, and expectations. Access to digital rostering has improved confidence, attendance reliability, and communication, while helping volunteers feel recognised as part of the wider workforce rather than operating separately from it.
The programme has also reduced manual administration and duplication, freeing staff to focus more time on supporting patients and coordinating care rather than managing paper-based volunteer processes. Most importantly, patients benefit from a more visible, reliable, and coordinated volunteer presence, improving reassurance, continuity, and overall experience during their time in hospital.
