SPAR partners with Royal Voluntary Service to support NHS volunteers

NHS volunteers will be able to shop for the vulnerable person they are supporting at over 700 SPAR stores in England, thanks to a new partnership between the convenience retailer and the Royal Voluntary Service (RVS).

The volunteers have started receiving their first tasks this week after over 750,000 people – three times the original target – signed up to help the NHS and vulnerable people hit by the coronavirus crisis.

The NHS Volunteer Responders programme, run by the NHS and RVS, enables volunteers to support the vulnerable person via the GoodSam Responder app. Health professionals and local authorities will refer people to the volunteers.

Using their ID, Community Response Volunteers on the programme can take the shopping list from a vulnerable person to a participating SPAR store to shop and pay.

Sam Ward, director of services and deputy chief executive of RVS, said: “We are incredibly grateful to SPAR stores for adjusting their systems to enable our volunteers to shop for vulnerable people in their community. Many people will rely on shopping support from our NHS Volunteer Responders and this payment solution will work well for our volunteers.”

SPAR said its three wholesalers in England – AF Blakemore & Son, Appleby Westward and James Hall & Co – have activated this service in the majority of company owned SPAR stores and within a number of independent SPAR stores.

“SPAR stores around the UK are doing all they can to support their local communities and this programme is another way in which we can help,” said Louise Hoste, managing director at SPAR UK.

“We hope to see the number of SPAR stores in England participating in this to increase and thousands of vulnerable people benefiting from this service.”