Each year, the Ambulance Association of Chief Executives (AACE) carries out a National Volunteer Survey to understand how ambulance services can better support their volunteers. In 2025, our results showed we needed to improve communication, training, systems and overall volunteer experience.

Over the past year, our Regional Community and Engagement Team has taken action based on the results. We’ve improved how volunteering is led and supported across the service, made it easier for volunteers to raise concerns, strengthened welfare support after incidents, created clearer development pathways and expanded training opportunities. We’ve also launched a new volunteer platform to make it easier to access information and manage volunteering activity, alongside increasing recognition events and engagement opportunities.

Mark Evans, Regional Community Engagement Lead, said, “Our volunteers are incredibly important to us, and we’re committed to making their experience the best it can be. We’ve made real improvements based on feedback, but we know there’s always more we can do and that starts with listening.”

The survey is now open again, and we’re encouraging all our volunteers to take part. The feedback will help us understand what more we can do to better support our current and future volunteers.

If you’re inspired by the work of our volunteers and would like to make a difference in your community, find out more about joining our volunteer programme.