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Frequently asked questions
Absolutely not! Visits from volunteers will be pre-arranged with you and you will be given their number. If you are concerned about the person at your door, give our IHBees a call on 0333 050 9227 immediately.
We offer help for people in need during isolation, we can deliver food, do shopping, walk dogs and collect prescriptions for those in need of help.
We can arrange for a “buddy” to contact you on a regular basis to help with your needs
When a volunteer is doing a shop for you, you can pay them when they deliver with any payment type (cash, bank transfer etc.) that is agreed between you and the volunteer.
Essentially, there is no correct answer to this. The reality is that this is between the volunteer and yourself as what works for some will not for others. Many volunteers prefer to pay for the shopping and they get the person in need to reimburse them with cash, cheque or bank transfer. Many stores now have volunteer cards which a PIN can top up over the phone. Have a look at the individuals website for more details. IHB recommend that volunteers NEVER give cash to a Person In Need as its cleanliness cannot be guaranteed. IHB also recommend that Volunteers DO NOT take possession of your person in need’s banks cards and PIN No’s. Receipts will be provided for all transactions
We offer food provision boxes with basic food items in them from donations from many people and businesses in our community that can be delivered to you.
No, absoloutely not. On no account will a volunteer enter a person In need’s home or have physical contact as part of the normal responsibilities. Shopping and medication will be left on the doorstep, the door knocked and the volunteer will withdraw to a safe distance. The only exception would be where there is a threat to life and the volunteer feels there is no alternative but to enter the Person In Needs home.
All volunteers are more than happy to complete transactions with PINs completely contact free, we want to ensure the safety of the people we help.
Let your volunteer know. If they can, they will accept the donation on our behalf. If they can’t, they will tell us and we will collect it. If you don’t have a volunteer, email us.
This is a matter for the individual and IHB do not provide scientific advice. However, advice on PPE can be found on these websites:
What is it?
This system seems to be in use and you’ll find information on the internet by doing a simple search. The idea is that someone who needs help places a red or green card in their window, indicating that they either need help or are ok.
So why might this not be a good idea?
If you mark yourself in need of help via this system, you are basically advertising that you are self isolating and can be seen as vulnerable, so a target for opportunists. We don’t recommend this flagging system and don’t endorse it in any way. The best way to ask for help is to pick up the phone and give us a call on 0333 050 9227. You can also complete a request form in our Get Help section by clicking here.
There are several ways you can get in touch with us: