Many people are contacting me about volunteering to support people during this coronavirus pandemic. It is fantastic that so many people wish to donate their time to our ongoing national effort.

As we have so many times in the past, the people of the United Kingdom will rise to this current challenge and we will beat the Coronavirus together. In these extraordinary times, it’s essential that we all pull together as part of the national effort to protect the most vulnerable, reduce pressures on our NHS and care system and save lives.

By volunteering, you will be playing your part in the fight against the virus, with the potential to make a real difference to some of those most affected by this outbreak.

The Government has launched NHS Volunteers Responders, a new scheme to recruit 250,000 volunteers, with the aim of helping up to 1.5 million people who have been asked to shield themselves from coronavirus because of underlying health conditions. The response so far has been remarkable, with 750,000 people signing up.

• Volunteers will be asked to do simple but vital tasks, including:
• Delivering medicines from pharmacies;
• Driving patients to appointments;
• Bringing them home from hospital;
• Or making regular phone calls to check on people isolating at home.

Due to the overwhelming response of the British public, the NHS has temporarily paused recruitment so that it can process existing applications. You should keep checking goodsammapp.org/NHS for when the process restarts.

All volunteers joining the NHS scheme will need to undertake training and background checks that are appropriate to the roles that they sign up for. All volunteers registering on the app will need to upload identity documents, driving license (for any driving related tasks), confirmation that they have insurance (if applicable) and any other role-related information