Evaluation of the Clear Pathway Guidance. (August 2020)
This report presents the findings from an evaluation of the Clear Pathway guidance (the guidance) for NHS boards commissioned by Voluntary Health Scotland and the Scottish Government in November 2019. The overall aim of the evaluation was to explore the extent to which the guidance has been recognised and implemented and to understand how it has ‘landed’ with health boards and the third sector.
Key Findings
There was evidence of significant third sector volunteering in NHS settings, with all regional health boards and half of the special health boards involved.
Third sector organisations were more likely than NHS boards to collect monitoring data and measure the impact of their volunteering in NHS settings.
Overall, NHS boards were more likely than third sector organisations to be aware of the guidance and tended to rate their overall understanding of the guidance higher than respondents from third sector organisations.
Findings on the extent of impact of the guidance were mixed, however, a number of third sector organisations and NHS boards reported positive impacts relating to the clarification of roles and expectations; building on existing volunteering efforts and improving relationships between third sector and NHS boards.
Overall, NHS boards reported more improvements and impacts linked to the guidance than third sector organisations.
The main suggestion, highlighted by both third sector organisations and NHS boards, was that awareness of the guidance needed to be increased in both sectors.
The report also includes a number of recommendations, including, but not limited to: developing best practice examples for data monitoring and impact measurement; increasing third sector organisations’ awareness of the guidance with a view to improving the partnerships between the third sector and NHS boards; and raising awareness of the guidance amongst key stakeholders in the third sector and the NHS.
More information on the Clear Pathway Guidance can be found at the link below. https://vhscotland.org.uk/what-we-do/clear-pathway/
