Volunteering with us

Volunteers play a vital role across the NHS ‘donating’ millions of hours of their own time each year.

Volunteering for the London Ambulance Service is a great way to use the experience you have, as well as to learn new skills.

You will also make new friends and play a key role in helping us to support London and Londoners.

As part of our plans to become a world-class ambulance service for a world-class city we are aiming to recruit 100,000 volunteers to join our team over the next few years

Areas where we are supported by volunteers include:

• Volunteer responders and community first aiders
• ‘General’ volunteers

Volunteer responders

We already use volunteers effectively on the frontline to support our service. We have a well-established system of voluntary responders who are dispatched to 999 emergencies alongside our ambulance crews or from their own homes. There are three different types of volunteer responder:

Emergency Responders

Emergency Responders (ERs) are London Ambulance Service-trained volunteers who attend a range of emergency calls in Service uniform and in blue-light response cars.

These volunteers respond in charity-funded blue light vehicles and work under London Ambulance Service management and policies. They also work alongside crews in ambulances.

We currently have nearly 150 volunteers in our Emergency Responder team.

Find out more about our Emergency Responders here.

Community First Responders 

Community First Responders (CFRs) are St John Ambulance volunteers who respond to 999 calls in their own car alongside ambulances.

They are trained to use defibrillators and respond alongside us to life-threatening emergency calls in their area. They are given equipment and support and respond in their own time.

Volunteer Responder Group charity

We support the work of these volunteer lifesavers in the capital through a registered charity – London Ambulance Service Voluntary Responder Group – registered charity no.1061191.

Find out more about the Voluntary Responder Group here.

‘General’ volunteers

We are looking to increase the number of volunteers who support our work by introducing a range of roles where members of the public can get involved in what we do, learn about the ambulance service and help us to improve care for Londoners. This includes:

• Volunteer non-emergency patient drivers
• Visiting frail, elderly, lonely or socially isolated patients following a fall where we have not taken the patient to hospital
• Ring backs to patients with less serious conditions who are waiting for an ambulance during busy times
• Assisting with infection prevention and control audits
• Helping our teams at public events
• Pastoral support to our control room staff
• Careers advice and support to new applicants and current staff
• Assisting with the upkeep of our historic collection. This might potentially a particularly attractive opportunity for retired LAS staff still looking to stay involved

Watch this space for more information.

Volunteers during the coronavirus outbreak

Our volunteer responders are also helping us during the pandemic by doing even more shifts and responding alongside London Ambulance Service clinicians in ambulances.

Trainers from the Service have given our Emergency Responders and Community First Responders upskilling training so they can join clinicians in ambulances.

Read more about the role of volunteers in our response to the Covid-19 pandemic here.