The ambulance service strives to get to patients as quickly as possible. Community First Responders (CFRs) are volunteers that are trained and despatched by UK ambulance services.
South Central Ambulance Charity supports over 1,200 Community First Responders, medical students, military, police and fire Co-Responders. These Community First Responders and Co-Responders are trained to respond to life-threatening emergencies. They are deployed by South Central Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust’s Emergency Operations Centre and form an integral part of the ambulance service’s emergency patient response.
Volunteer responders provide essential life-saving treatment and support in those crucial minutes before the ambulance crew arrives. This includes responding to patients of all ages suffering a life threatening emergency such as cardiac arrest, heart attack, breathing difficulties or a stroke. Our volunteers are trained by South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS).
These volunteers come from every walk of like. What they have in common is their desire to make a difference by volunteering to support patient care in emergency situations. Each year they attend over 30,000 incidents across Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Hampshire. CFRs and Co-Responders give up their time to help save lives in their community.
SCAS Charity funds the uniform, equipment and training for our volunteer responders. They are trained and managed by SCAS’s Community Engagement and Training Team.
Find out the areas where we need help the most here Volunteer information – South Central Ambulance Charity (scascharity.org.uk)
If you are interested in being a Community First Responder you will need to be:
If you are interested in being a Community First Responder you will need to be:
The Patient Panel has been designed to increase the involvement of patients, as well as their families and carers, in improving and shaping the future of our services.
The panel is made up of patients, family members or carers of patients who have used SCAS services, as well as representatives from voluntary groups and partner organisations.
The Patient Panel Volunteers will have an opportunity to gain insight and have a say on service developments and improvements across 999 emergency services, Non-Emergency Patient Transport Service (NEPTS) and NHS 111.
This volunteering opportunity is flexible meaning you can get involved in a way that suits you.
You will be asked to attend meetings, either in person or online, to discuss issues, as well as share views on specific areas of interest, including the design, development and delivery of Trust services through focus groups or via surveys and other online feedback
To join us as a Patient Panel Volunteer you need to be over the age of 16 years old (for some roles their is a minimum age of 18 years), live in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire and able to listen and discuss different perspectives with others in a constructive way.
The Patient Panel will have a dedicated Patient Voice Panel Lead to provide ongoing support to the panel and its members. You will receive an appropriate level of support, training and education so you are able to effectively contribute towards Trust projects and workstreams.
Volunteers may be used in a variety of ways in SCAS, but the following are the most frequent volunteering opportunities available.
The purpose of this document is to set out the South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) policy for including volunteers in its work and to set out the general principles and guidelines for volunteering, to ensure consistent standards and good practice.
Could you, or someone you know, help us?
Do you like driving? Do you like meeting new people? Do you have some time to spare? Are you based in Hampshire?
If so, have you considered becoming a Patient Transport Volunteer with South Central Ambulance Service
Our Patient Transport Service helps hundreds of people access hospital services every day of the year.
We are assisted by a dedicated professional band of Patient Transport Volunteers, who provide transport using their own cars, for patients who experience difficulties travelling to their non emergency but essential hospital appointments.
Our volunteers come from many different backgrounds but all have a common bond in wanting to give something back to their communities! No previous experience is required just a friendly caring attitude and some spare time. We offer complete flexibility so you can volunteer as little or as much as you like, whilst fitting in with other commitments.
In recognition to your contribution we offer you
In order to become a Patient Transport Volunteer we require you to have the following:
As part of the Application process you will be invited to attend:
If you have any further questions please email volunteering@sca-charity.org.uk
By participating in our lottery you can make a lifesaving difference. You help us to train and equip our volunteers, to train and equip communities to save lives and to enhance and develop the care we give.
Our weekly lottery is hosted by Unity, it’s a lottery with a difference. We receive profits directly from the number of lottery players we recruit, so we need your support. For every £1 entry – 50p comes directly to us as profit.
For just £1 per week you will be allocated with a six digit Unity Lottery number, which will remain yours for as long as you wish to keep playing. You can purchase more than one if you wish.
Every Saturday, the lucky winners are selected at random and prize cheques are issued and posted directly to you, so there is no need for you to claim. Winners have to match 3, 4, 5 or all 6 digits of the winning number in the correct place in the sequence.
6 digits in the correct place wins £25,000, 5 digits in the correct place wins £1,000
4 digits in the correct place wins £25, 3 digits in the correct place wins £5
You have a 1 in 63 chance of winning a prize
The winning Unity number will be published on the results page of Unity Lottery or alternatively you can call the Unity winners hotline:
Tel: 0370 055 2291.
Visit Unit Lottery to play. You will need to complete the online direct debit form for a chance to win, or should you wish to sign up via one of our leaflets please contact info@sca-charity.org.uk .
Please note to join our lottery you must be 16 or over to enter and be a resident in Great Britain.
You have the option to pay in two ways by direct debit or cheque. You must be 16 or over to enter and be resident in Great Britain. If you have any queries please contact the Unity Lottery hotline on Tel: 0370 050 9240
South Central Ambulance Charity is grateful to all those who donate and enable us to continue to provide lifesaving volunteers in our communities, support better understanding and knowledge of basic life saving skills and to support the health and wellbeing of our staff.
There are many ways in which you can make a contribution if you would like to support our work.
Donate by Text by texting SCAS followed by the amount (eg 2, 3, 5, 10) to 70085.
Please contact our info@sca-charity.org.uk email if you would like details of how to pay a donation directly in to our bank account.
We accept cheques made payable to South Central Ambulance Charity.
Unit 3, Station Yard, Thame, Oxon, OX9 3UH
We would love to be able to say Thank You when you donate, so please include your contact details when you reach out to us.
Gift Aid is a scheme that allows us to reclaim tax from HMRC on eligible donations. We receive an extra 25p per £1 you donate.
If you’re a UK taxpayer, please download and complete the form using the button below to allow us to claim Gift Aid on any past, present and future donations you make. Once complete please post this form to us at: Charity Team, South Central Ambulance Charity, Unit 3, Station Yard, Thame, Oxon OX9 3UH.
Gift Aid is reclaimed by the charity from the tax you pay for the current tax year. Your address is needed to identify you as a current UK taxpayer.
South Central Ambulance Charity plays a vital role within the communities we serve as we fund our volunteer Community First Responders (CFRs) scheme which costs around £300,000 a year and is supported by over 1,000 volunteer CFRs. The NHS does not fund the ambulance service to provide this. CFRs assist the Ambulance Service by attending emergency calls in the areas where they live or work. As they are local, they can often reach a potentially life-threatening emergency in the first vital minutes before the ambulance crew can get to the scene.
So as you can imagine regular and sustainable gifts are important to us. Setting up a regular gift is really easy to do via Enthuse or speak to your bank to set up your own standing order using our bank account details.
SCAS Charity is currently managed by a small team of SCAS staff who are responsible for all aspects of the Charity. As a department of SCAS the Charity benefits from wider support from teams such as the SCAS Finance, IT and Comms teams but to a large extent this team manages all of the everyday work of the Charity.
This inevitably means that resources are limited and we are always looking for volunteers willing to come and help us in a variety of different ways. Becoming a Charity volunteer, like other volunteer roles, is a flexible commitment that can work around other activities an individual may have. Hours can be agreed to suit you and various different roles are on offer.
Our Charity Ambassadors are a growing team of volunteers who we can call onto support the charity in the community or within our Charity Office based in Thame Oxfordshire.
Being a Charity Ambassador would primarily involve being available at weekends to attend fetes, fairs and county shows, to chat to the public about our work, help out at engagement events at a local supermarket or take part in a bucket collection at a major event.
In addition Charity Ambassador’s might be asked to support within the Charity Office to help us prepare for events.
We will put out calls for help at various points through the year and volunteers are asked to help where and when they can.
Do you want to volunteer but don’t feel you can commit to attending events, or need the flexibility that can come with volunteering?
Our lunchtime team volunteers are asked to support us with quick and simple tasks which should take up no more than 1 hour – or your lunch break!
Maybe its popping a couple of posters up in your area. It could be sharing some posts on social media. Or even dropping off some new collection tins. Whatever it is the task should be no more than an hour.
For more details about the role and how to apply visit our opportunities page
Collecting tins across the SCAS area generate important funds for the Charity. Handing out and collecting tins back in can sometimes be time consuming and we are looking for people who are willing to give a few hours each week to go out in their local community and find places that will be willing to house one of our tins and then manage the relationship going forward. This would involve keeping an up to date spreadsheet of where tins have been placed and when, recording when they are collected back, counting funds and then recording and banking those donations.
If you are interested in this role please email info@sca-charity.org.uk
We love it when people decided to create their own event to raise funds and it is always fantastic to see the ideas people come up with. We are here to help you do that and to support you with your volunteering and fundraising.
Email info@sca-charity.org.uk with your ideas!
Are you interested in volunteering with SCAS Charity? There are lots of ways to get involved. Use our quick and easy online form to register your interest, you can select on of the following roles:
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