NHS Volunteer Responders across Dorset reported for duty yesterday to start helping the NHS in its fight against coronavirus.

More than 750,000 people signed up to the NHS’ call for volunteers in just four days when the scheme launched, three times the original target.

Royal Voluntary Service, the charity delivering the volunteer effort, will have completed checks for the three quarters of a million applications by the end of today.

Thanks to the huge response, the group of vulnerable people they will support in England has now been expanded and they will come to the aid of 2.5 million at risk people.

The volunteers will be:

* delivering medicines from pharmacies;

* driving patients to appointments;

* bringing them home from hospital;

* making regular phone calls to check on people isolating at home;

* transporting medical supplies and equipment for the NHS.

Thousands of these approved volunteers will be offered tasks from today via the GoodSAM app and will start helping people safely, with more expected to get requests over the coming weeks as referrals ramp up.

Health professionals, pharmacists and local authorities can upload requests for help on the NHS Volunteer Responders referrer’s portal and volunteers pick the job they want to do that day and close the task once complete.

Volunteers show themselves as available when their app is switched to ‘on duty’.