There are thousands of young people giving their time in health and social care but we need to do more to encourage them and increase the impact they make. We are inviting MPs to meet some of the young volunteers and find out more about the projects young people are pioneering.
There are many benefits to young people volunteering in health, including:
• Bringing young people’s fresh approach and new ideas
• Building strong communities through intergenerational links that dispel negative myths and build mutual understanding
• Building a legacy for the future of volunteering, ensuring that a stay in hospital will continue to have a friendly face unrelated to the clinical or frightening experiences of being a patient
• Increasing a young person’s skills, training and self-esteem.

Taking action is what Time for Health is all about and this event is just one step of many. We want to champion the growth of all volunteering in this setting. Our research tells us that young people want to volunteer but they don’t always have the opportunity available.
With the help of the MPs coming to this event we would like to know the experiences of young people in their constituency, to learn what opportunities there are and what can be improved.
We will be working with them on coming up with ways for more and more young people to give their time making a difference in health and social
care across the UK.

Photo by Attend Creative Volunteer Annuska Dal Maso
www.annuskadalmaso.com