Volunteers' Week 2024

Monday 3 June to Sunday 9 June marks Volunteers Week. The week is a great chance to celebrate everything that our volunteers contribute to our community.

To mark the occasion, we're hearing from Denise, one of our volunteers who has been with us at Healthwatch Derbyshire for nearly 10 years!

I began volunteering at Healthwatch Derbyshire in 2015. I have a learning disability, so I was worried about volunteering at first.

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I started by delivering leaflets and telling local people all about Healthwatch. Then in 2017, I trained to be an Enter and View Authorised Representative. This involved me visiting places like care homes and hospitals to see what was working well and what could be done better.

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Volunteering with Healthwatch helped me get paid jobs.

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In 2018, I got a job as an Expert Advisor attending Care and Treatment Reviews (CTR) as part of an independent panel. CTR’s usually happen in hospitals and check whether a person is getting good care and treatment.

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I now have lots of jobs supporting people with a learning disability and giving them a voice. I deliver Oliver McGowan training on learning disability and autism to healthcare workers. This tells people what it is like to have a learning disability. I am also a Director at Inclusion North.

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In 2024, I received an award in the Dimensions Learning Disability and Autism Leaders list. I collected the award at a ceremony held at the O2 in London.

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Volunteering is a great way to get confidence and experience that can help

you get a job.

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The team would like to say a huge 'thank you' to all our volunteers. Every contribution helps to make sure we can work towards our goal of improving health and care in Derbyshire.

If you or someone would like to learn more about volunteering, and the different types of roles we have, take a look at our volunteering page.