13:23

The NHS coronavirus volunteer scheme is taking longer than expected to implement, according to officials.



The extraordinary willingness of the British public to help out has been considered one of the few bright points of the crisis, but only a few thousand tasks are being carried out around the country so far.



Neil Churchill, an NHS England administrator working on the volunteer team, posted on a Facebook group for volunteer helpers on Friday morning, explaining “why it’s taking time for you to get your first tasks”.



The official said there were “a lot more [identities] to check” than initially expected – and it was only after that that “we ask people in the NHS to make referrals”. But NHS staff have also been slow to call for the volunteers to assist.

Churchill said:





It just takes time for info to get through to every GP practice, every pharmacist and every discharge team. Referrals are in the thousands right now and we expect they will be in the tens of thousands soon.

Volunteers are registered on the Good SAM app and when signed in wait for an alert indicating a job needs doing. But Facebook groups for volunteers are full of people expressing disappointment that they had waited hours without being tasked.



Melanie Westell, 41, from Kent, said she had signed up to volunteer two and a half weeks ago and last Friday she was told she had been accepted. She added:

I have been on duty for 87 hours over the last week and have not had anything come through. The only thing I can put it down to is that when doctors or pharmacies, for example, refer vulnerable people to the service they have to fill out a form for all the services they may need.