• Facts and figures
• Measuring our impact
• Real life stories
• What we think
• Involving older people
• Reports and reviews
• Blog
• Campaigns

Facts and figures

WRVS provides practical support to improve the well-being of older people in three ways – at home, in their local community and in health settings. Last year we helped:

At home

• We provided over 9,000 visits to older people at home to offer company and friendship.
• We helped over 4,000 people every month live independently at home through our teams of Good Neighbours.
• We served nearly 5.9 million Meals on Wheels to over 22,600 people.
• The 60,000 lifts we gave through our community transport service helped older people to get where they wanted to go.

In local communities

• We run over 60 places where older people can come together to join in social activities like keep fit, art classes or learning to use a computer.
• We provided hot meals for older people in 200 community centres and lunch clubs around the country.
• Last year we supported nearly 6,000 people in emergency situations like fire, floods and power failures through WRVS community Resilience and Recovery services.
• Nearly 47,000 people used our new information centre and café in Paisley in its first year.

In hospitals and health settings

• WRVS runs shops, cafés and patient support services in 450 hospitals in Britain.
• Last year WRVS donated over £6 million back to hospitals to provide medical equipment and patient services. The total gifted back to hospitals by WRVS over the years is well over £50 million. The money came from profits made in our hospital shops and cafés.
• Over 6,000 volunteering hours were spent supporting older people at home who had recently come out of hospital.
• We have a team of over 1,000 volunteers who welcome and guide people in 36 hospitals around the country.
• We provided over 200 services in hospital wards and care homes to offer patient refreshment and top up shopping through our trolley services.

Find out more in our Key Facts leaflet.