Covid vaccine: How to volunteer or get paid to help with NHS rollout

Around 2,000,000 people have already been given their injection - by autumn the government wants all adults to have had it

(Getty Images)

Three types of coronavirus vaccine have now been approved by the UK regulator for use on the NHS; these are the Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna versions.

On Monday, it was confirmed that the rollout had already seen 2,000,000 people given their jab - including a third of people over 80 - but with a target of every adult by autumn (and 13m by mid-February) there are plenty more to do.

Seven mass vaccination sites have opened in a bid to meet this target, working alongside GP surgeries and hospitals already offering the jab. Health secretary Matt Hancock said he hopes around 200,000 people can be vaccinated every day. 

But without enough hands to administer the vaccine, progress will be slower. In November, it was announced that the NHS would need 30,000 volunteers to help deliver the programme.  

This followed a change in the law in October, to allow a wider range of healthcare workers – such as paramedics, physiotherapists or student doctors and nurses, as well as doctors and nurses working outside the NHS – to vaccinate.

So is the NHS still looking for volunteers and, if so, what can you do to help?

What roles were needed?

The NHS website says there are two types of roles - paid and volunteer.  

The paid roles were for health professionals, healthcare scientists and dental staff, as well as other “individuals with appropriate first aid training, who are able to undertake additional comprehensive training”.

“In all cases, full training and appropriate supervision and personal protective equipment will be available to ensure the safety of staff, volunteers and patients,” says the NHS.

I work in the NHS - can I apply?

The advice says if you are currently working in the NHS, recruitment and redeployment is being coordinated locally so please “look out for information” from your employer.

If you are a manager looking to volunteer your team, you must speak to the HR team in your NHS trust. For further information, check here.

If you don’t currently work for the NHS but would be interested in a paid role, check NHS jobs to apply for roles in your area. This also applies to retired clinicians looking at returning to work.

The British Medical Association (BMA) said in December: “Members of staff already qualified to provide vaccinations are likely to be the main part of the workforce administering the Covid-19 vaccine in general practice.”

The BMA advised against trainee doctors being “diverted away” from education, “this could degrade their educational experience”. But added, “they may wish to volunteer to provide extra sessions at vaccination centres. Any such sessions must be entirely voluntary and should be contracted as extra hours.” 

I’d like to volunteer for unpaid work - what next?

The BMA says all volunteers have to be between the age of 18 and 69, have at least two or more A-Levels or equivalent, be at low risk of Covid-19 themselves, and be prepared to undergo reference checks.

St John’s Ambulance is currently working through a register of volunteers - this is open to sign up to those who haven't previously worked with SJA.

St John’s Ambulance puts volunteers into three categories: volunteer vaccinator, vaccination care volunteer and volunteer patient advocate.  

Volunteer vaccinator: These will be the trained ones administering the vaccines. They receive extensive training and assessments and healthcare professionals will be on site to supervise safety. This training includes learning how to recognise and respond to medical emergencies.  

Vaccination care volunteer: They will support patients before and after and will help people navigate the vaccination centre. They will also be trained in responding to emergencies.

Volunteer patient advocate: Will help support people with impairments. This role is not clinical but will require NHS-level training.

NHS Volunteer Responder, set up by NHS England and the Royal Voluntary Service, is also using its existing network for stewarding roles. These will largely support vaccination centres as and when they are needed. They will not need medical training.

Do they need more people now?

The NHS website currently says: “While we have enough vaccinators to be able to deliver the number of doses available to the NHS, this will continue to be a huge task, and to ensure we can continue to vaccinate millions of people as quickly as possible – at the same time as keeping other vital services going – the NHS is recruiting thousands of paid and volunteer roles across the country.”

I signed up, but haven’t heard anything?

 The NHS website says that those who have signed up already should wait to hear from their local trust.

“We are grateful to the tens of thousands who applied and trained for a vaccination role and are ready to vaccinate. Your local NHS trust will be in contact when the need for additional vaccinators arise – this is dependent on local availability of vaccine supplies.”