Celebrating our Volunteers

It's National Volunteers’ Week (2 to 8 June 2025) and we are recognising, celebrating and thanking our volunteers for their invaluable contributions. 

Volunteers are an integral part of our team, dedicating their time, care and energy to support our mission of delivering safe, effective and patient-centred care.

In 2024, we have nearly 1,000 YAS volunteers who collectively contributed over 270,000 hours, profoundly enhancing patient and community care in roles as:

• Community First Responders (CFRs) - trained volunteers who respond to emergency calls in their local area, providing immediate life-saving care before an ambulance arrives.
• Patient Transport Service (PTS) Volunteers - use their own vehicles to provide non-emergency transportation for eligible patients to and from healthcare appointments.
• Critical Friends Network - volunteers who are the voice of our patients to influence service developments.
• Community Engagement Volunteers - staff and existing volunteers who work in their local communities to pass on key skills such as first aid, basic life support and talk about careers in the ambulance sector.
• Yorkshire Ambulance Service Charity Champions - staff raise funds the YAS Charity which supports the welfare of YAS staff and volunteers and helps with the delivery of community-based initiatives such as basic first aid training.

We are also grateful for the support provided by external volunteer programmes, such as the British Association for Immediate Care (BASICS), Mountain Rescue and Pets as Therapy.

This year, we are celebrating Volunteers’ Week by hosting our inaugural YAS Volunteer Long Service Awards, a new initiative to honour the dedication and commitment of our long-serving volunteers. These awards are a meaningful way to express our gratitude and recognise the lasting impact of their contributions to our communities and the lives they’ve touched. 

By highlighting their achievements, we hope to inspire and motivate both current and future volunteers to continue their incredible work and foster a stronger sense of pride within the YAS community.

Amy Ingham, Volunteer Development Manager for YAS, said: "Thank you to all our volunteers for their dedication and commitment. Their contributions make a world of difference, and we are proud to honour and celebrate their service through initiatives like the Volunteer Long Service Awards."

During the week we will also be sharing inspiring stories of our volunteers through our social media channels and internal communications.
 

Development highlights of 2024-25

This year has seen substantial advancements in our volunteering initiatives. We achieved the Investing in Volunteers reaccreditation for the second time, reaffirming our commitment to high standards in volunteer management. Additionally, in response to feedback, we launched a new user-friendly e-learning platform to provide our volunteers with improved access to effective training resources.

It has been two years since we launched our first Volunteer Development Framework which sets out our commitment to supporting and enhancing volunteering – here is a summary of what we have achieved so far with more details here.

Craig has been a Community First Responder in North Yorkshire for 19 years, a role which led to him also becoming a Mountain Rescue Remote Rescue Medical Technician.

"Two memorable moments stand out for me; my first cardiac arrest and a call that came in as difficulty breathing but the patient hadn't mentioned chest pain which was getting worse. On my way home, I stopped somewhere remote and took a moment to reflect.  I felt so proud of myself for being able to help a family in their desperate time of need.  This in the reason I continue. You have a positive impact on the calls you do attend and make a massive difference to the patient and their families by being able to be on scene for longer periods of time."  

Di has always been interested in first aid, having joined St John Ambulance when she was eight. She has been a Community First Responder in North Yorkshire for 18 years.

"We can do so much more now.  In the early days, if it wasn't a cardiac arrest, then essentially, we were only able to manually take a pulse and give reassurance. Back then, we had a sheaf of paper maps, and finding remote farms was incredibly difficult, especially at night! The new medical equipment allows you to make a meaningful contribution and the smartphones with the navigation and the National Early Warning Score, a system which helps to assess the severity of a patient's condition, make life so much simpler!  More regular scheme meetings help keep me focused and refresh my skills if needed."

Debs joined our Critical Friends Network in November 2014.

"I started volunteering because I saw there was little in the way of mental health support and I wanted to help things improve. The service has gone from staff having no specific mental health training to all staff being trained to varying degrees and with the advancement of the mental health specialist paramedic role and roll-out of mental health vehicles across the region is such a huge improvement. The biggest moment for me was doing a shift on a mental health ambulance. To know that someone else's journey is going to be better as a result of some things I've spoken and asked about really keeps me going."

Jennifer became a PTS Volunteer in 1990 in the Harrogate area.

"Over the years I have met a lot of pleasant, brave people, with whom we have enjoyed lots of laughs and I’ve learned a lot from them.

Communication has changed from when I started, I used to receive my work by phone and I had to write down the patient and journey details. Now, it’s much easier, and having a phone in the car helps too -in case of breakdowns.

I remember when I started that patients used to give their date of birth and some patients were born in the late 1800s."

Emma took part in the Get Started Programme, run by the King's Trust in partnership with YAS, to boost skills and confidence with an aim of helping more people into jobs. The programme inspired her to become a Community First Responder and she has now also secured a role as a 999 Call Handler. 

“I love being a CFR. The best thing about this role is you get out of it what you put into it. If you work really hard, are engaged and interested, then the crews will teach you and let you get more involved in the care of patients. I’m also excited to be starting as a 999 Call Handler in and to bring my CFR and frontline knowledge to this role.” 

Julie has been a Community First Responder for 19 years.

"I was inspired to volunteer after being involved in an incident. It’s the knowledge that even if its only one person you help it has makes a difference that keeps me motivated.

The memorable moment that stands out for me was aiding someone in our community.  I was not on duty, I was actually cutting our lawn, but a neighbour knew I was a CFR and asked me to help a member of our community who had been taken ill. I rang the CFR desk and asked to be marked as active and was able to help until the ambulance arrived."

Lucy has been a Community First Responder for 15 years.

She said: "Living in a rural community means that sometimes we are a long way from help, so when I saw an advert to become a CFR I applied, a decision I have never regretted.

I have four children and a busy job with another NHS trust. My motivation is helping people basically, every patient I attend is different and I am just happy I am there to help.

I attended an unresponsive teenager on Valentine's Day a few years ago. She was very unwell after having an epileptic seizure. To my relief after a tense few minutes (felt like hours) she started to come around. When the crew arrived and I was assisting helping her on to the ambulance. She said to me 'Happy Valentine's Day Lucy'. I thanked her, got in my car and burst in tears."

Taj, an NHS 111 Health Advisor from Wakefield, recently signed up to be a volunteer for the YAS Charity. She is supporting the charity in several ways and has recently helped at a store collection in Sheffield. Taj joined YAS with a strong desire to support our emergency services following the loss of her grandfather to cardiac arrest.

“I volunteered with the YAS Charity because I wanted to show my appreciation and make a difference to this amazing charity. I was motivated to join the charity so that I could help increase community awareness, provide essential training and broaden my own knowledge."