About 750,000 volunteers are being recruited in England to help the NHS support vulnerable people during the coronavirus pandemic. The government has called on fit and healthy adults to sign up as NHS volunteer responders to help up to to 1.5 million vulnerable people confined to their homes for three months. Here’s what we know so far about the NHS volunteer scheme and how it will work. Who is being asked to join? People aged 18 and over and in good health – and without coronavirus symptoms – are being asked to sign up online to help ensure vulnerable people confined to their homes get the essential supplies they need and to provide other support to the NHS. Volunteers must pass an enhanced DBS check. How can I apply to volunteer? People can sign up here. What roles can volunteers play? Volunteers can help in four roles. They can become a community response volunteer, which involves “collecting shopping, medication or other essential supplies for someone who is self-isolating, and delivering these supplies to their home.” Patient transport volunteers will support the NHS by driving discharged patients to their homes, and NHS transport volunteers will move equipment, supplies or medication between sites. Check-in and chat volunteers will provide regular support calls to elderly people who are in isolation and at risk of loneliness. How will it work in practice? Volunteers will be directed to tasks via an app through which they can say they are “on duty” and available. NHS England’s website states: “GPs, doctors, pharmacists, nurses, midwives, NHS 111 advisers and social care staff will all be able to request help for their at-risk patients via a call centre run by the Royal Voluntary Service (RVS), who will match people who need help with volunteers who live near to them. Some charities will also be able to refer people to the service.” What about local schemes already in place? Around the country, schemes have been springing up to help vulnerable people self-isolating in their homes, with people posting leaflets offering help through neighbours’ doors. The new voluntary scheme is not intended to replace local ones but to provide additional support to the NHS. Won’t volunteers be breaking government instructions to stay at home? In short, no. Asked if the scheme went against advice to stay at home and how the government would keep volunteers safe, Robert Jenrick, the housing and communities secretary, told BBC Breakfast on Wednesday morning: “The government’s guidance is to stay at home unless you’ve got a reason to be going out. If you’re doing something absolutely essential for fighting the virus, like volunteering in this very organised way, then obviously that’s different. But we want to keep those individuals safe. They’ll receive the training, the support and the equipment that they’ll need to carry out those roles.” Who else is helping the NHS? Nearly 12,000 recently retired NHS staff members have also come forward to rejoin the frontline following a separate call for help. The government has announced plans to set up a makeshift hospital with capacity for up to 4,000 beds at the ExCeL centre in east London. How many people have volunteered? More than 500,000 volunteers have signed up so far. The total of 504,303 easily exceeds the government’s target of 250,000.