ICS50: 50 Volunteers for 50 Years

Recruiting 50 volunteers to help raise £50 million to humanise intensive care units and improve critical care.

Each year, near a quarter of a million people are admitted to intensive care. Of those patients who survive ICU, most face long periods of recovery and rehab and sometimes long term functional limitations. One of the biggest impacts is significant psychological affects they encounter from the trauma of being in intensive care. 61% of patients suffer from depression within the first five years and more than 25% of patients suffer from PTSD after leaving ICU care, with some never fully recovering.

One in six of us will be admitted in to critical care in our lifetime, so what we do today can help improve tomorrow for our patients!

We represent you. We represent them. And we represent the multi professional teams upon whom you and they depend to survive:  nurses, doctors, clinical psychologists, pharmacists, dietitians, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and more. We also fund the research which helps them. But it’s clear we need to do more. 

As the Intensive Care Society (ICS) enters its 50th year, we have an exciting opportunity for 50 vibrant volunteers to join the ICS team as we prepare our fundraising drive to generate £50 million during the 50th celebrations.

You may be a healthcare professional (not restricted to ICM); ICS member; patient or relative – if you have been impacted by intensive care and want to help us, come join our team.

Volunteering with us will help you to develop your organisation, communication and team working skills, raise awareness amongst communities and fundraise to help humanise ICUs, play a role in fundraising for meaningful research, and facilitate the sustainability of the Society to continue its work to advance critical care.

The purpose of #ICS50

Our members pay from their own salaries to help improve their patients’ lives. This funds our small team and everything needed to run our charity, we are extremely thankful for the support our members have shown us over the years, but we want to give back!

In 2018, members donated an additional £50,000 and our supporters donated £30,000 to provide seed funding for research and some infrastructure costs. We thank those who supported us with this and allowed us to create great advancements and improvements in critical care.

To enable us to truly transform intensive care, we need to grow and sustain the Intensive Care Society. We have set an ambitious goal of raising £50 million starting from our 50th year in 2020 through our anniversary campaign; #ICS50. This will go towards activities such as the facilitation of further research and tackling the problems that patients and staff experience as a result of intensive care through ‘humanising ICU’.

Volunteers across the UK will play a key role in driving fundraising campaigns at a local level for the Society through national ‘humanising the ICU’ programmes for patients, relatives and staff and have the opportunity to be engaged in a variety of projects throughout the Society’s 50th year.

A few examples of areas of work that funds raised would help support include:

• Projects to humanise the ICU: improving light and soundscape; more patient information leaflets; posters to explain ICU; better facilities for relatives and staff
• Meaningful research: clinical trials, research awards, career development
• Infrastructure costs: to sustain the charity for another 50 years and minimise financial support required from members going forward
• Educational programmes – We would like to host educational seminars and lectures for the public and professionals.

ICS will collate all funds centrally and redistribute nationally according to agreed criteria. Any excess will be used as unrestricted funds to deliver other activities within the charity’s objectives.

Volunteer with the ICS

What you will gain:

• Volunteering with the Society is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help consolidate, improve and guarantee the future of UK ICU patient and staff experience as well as research.
• Gain confidence in communicating with supporters and develop interpersonal and team working skills.
• You will also gain a further understanding of our charity, and engage with the Society’s national multi-disciplinary membership body.
• A great addition to your CV.

Who are we looking for?

• We want a wide variety of volunteers – all skills are welcome.
• You may be a clinician or non-clinician, relative or patient.
• We are looking for self-motivated individuals with good team working and communication abilities who have the dedication to complete whatever degree of engagement is committed to.
• Skills in management, teamwork, PR/advertising/communications, business and finance are desirable but only your enthusiasm is essential.

Further details & how to apply

Start dates are flexible, to apply please send a statement (maximum 200 words) explaining how you could help and why you are interested, along with your CV to chloe@ics.ac.uk