NHS charities have always worked closely with other charities to provide support to NHS staff, volunteers and patients. Some of the funding from this appeal will go towards helping the vital care partnerships outside hospitals, such as with hospices, community healthcare and social care, making sure patients who leave hospital have access to the care required to help them to recover. A lot of that support is delivered by other charities as part of the community of organisations who support both the NHS and social care.  

This crisis is taking a toll on our amazing staff and volunteers, and so the funding will also be used to support their health and wellbeing, through initiatives like providing counselling support, and again those services are likely to be provided by other charities.  

 In the longer term it will also fund programmes to help staff and volunteers recover fully once the crisis has abated, reducing the long-term impact on them and the people they care about. As with the other areas, a lot of that support will be delivered by other charities, so funding will certainly be going to the wider voluntary sector.