Service Information
- Village Care provides assistance to residents of Milford and Witley who are in need.
- Nearly all the help requested is for transport, and nearly all of this is for local trips (doctors, dentists etc).
- We are unable to offer help on a regular basis e.g. weekly shopping trips, as we do not have sufficient resources. However we can help when a request is not open ended e.g. to attend a finite number of physio appointments.
- We support the Hospital Hoppa service and only take clients to the Royal Surrey and Haslemere hospitals if Hoppa is unable to do so.
- The Hoppa service can help with regular shopping trips.
- The Village Care helpline is an answerphone service. (Tel 07871 570160) Requests are dealt with by co-ordinators who match the requests with volunteer availability. The rota of coordinators changes approximately every 2 weeks. Coordinators are asked to check for messages once a day during their period of duty and deal with requests as soon as possible. Clients are asked to give at least 2 days notice of assistance required.
- Volunteers can expect to help once or twice a month and are free to decline any request made to them if the timing is unsuitable. Clients sometimes ask volunteers for a further booking. If this is arranged please notify the Village Care helpline that you have agreed to do this. Normally, though, clients will book direct with the helpline for each of their requests.
- Clients are asked to make a donation towards the running costs of Village Care. It is suggested to them that for local trips within the two villages £3 is appropriate. Godalming is £5.00. Otherwise a sum of 49p a mile for longer trips is recommended with trips to Cranleigh & Guildford hospitals being £12.50 each way. Clients are aware of this as it is included in the helpline message. However the donation is voluntary and if a client cannot pay the full amount discretion is exercised.
- Volunteers are entitled to claim 40p a mile in expenses. This should be deducted from the donation received and the balance (if any) passed to the Treasurer or any Committee member or left at Milford Crossroads Surgery.
- Volunteers can use the public pay and display car park at the Royal Surrey free of charge by showing a yellow “driver on duty” badge. Village Care also has 2 Blue Badges which can be used if a client has mobility problems. These and the yellow badges are kept at the Witley and Milford Crossroads surgeries and should be borrowed and returned to them as necessary.
- Volunteers may need to notify their car insurance company that they are undertaking voluntary work. This can be checked at: https://www.abi.org.uk/products-and-issues/choosing-the-right-insurance/motor-insurance/volunteer-drivers/ . (Different companies have different rules!)
