Could you volunteer? Maybe as a thanks for treatment you or a loved one has received?
Our volunteers are a vital part of our hospital. Between them, our dedicated team contribute hundreds of hours of their time to ensure we can continue to offer the very best patient care.
Every hour of volunteering you can give makes a positive difference to our staff, patients and services.
There are a number of ways in which you can help as a volunteer:
Volunteer Criteria
To be considered for any of our opportunities and to become a member of our Voluntary Services Team we ask that you meet the following criteria:
- You are 18 years old or over.
- Eligible to volunteer in the UK.
- Be caring, reliable, dependable, trustworthy, motivated, friendly, flexible and have excellent communication skills.
- Be prepared to work within the Values & behaviour guidelines of the Trust.
- Be able to commit to regular volunteering shifts.
Becoming a Volunteer
As a Trust we are committed to offering a safe and fair recruitment process with the main aim of recruiting the volunteers that closely matches the skills, experience and time commitment stated in the role descriptions.
The recruitment process to become a registered Volunteer at the Trust can take approximately 4-6 weeks to complete.
- You will need to submit an online application via the link ‘Register as a Volunteer’.
- Provide two suitable references (one of which must be professional)
- Attend an interview.
- Complete a DBS check (providing 3 identification documents)
- Complete a self-declaration Occupational Health check Form.
- Sign a confidentiality document.
- Sign a volunteer agreement.
- Complete the mandatory online training modules (these are subject to which volunteering role you would like to do)
- Responsibilities of a Volunteer [updated COVID-19]
- Communications for Volunteers.
- Data Security Awareness for Volunteers.
- Conflict Resolution for Volunteers.
- Equality, Diversity and Human Rights for Volunteers.
- Safeguarding Adults for Volunteers.
- Safeguarding Children for Volunteers.
- Preventing Radicalisation (Basic Awareness)
- Mental Health Awareness for Volunteers.
- Fire Safety for Volunteers.
- Fluids and Nutrition for Volunteers.
- Resuscitation (Basic Life Support) for Volunteers [updated COVID-19]
- Moving & Assisting for Volunteers.
- Schild Sexual Exploitation for Volunteers.
Once the process and checks have been completed you will be given a start date to shadow an experienced volunteer or member of staff.
Volunteers can park free of charge in car park 2 and car park 6 on the campus or use the park and ride car parks and travel free on the bus to the hospital. Volunteers can only park free of charge or use the park and ride bus free of charge when carrying out volunteer duties.
You will receive a volunteer uniform and be issued with an identity badge upon completion of this process.
Volunteers can be reimbursed their travelling - up to a maximum of 30 miles per day.
If you volunteer for 4 hours or more, you will receive a hospitality voucher for £5 that you can spend in the hospital’s onsite restaurant.
Volunteer Interviews will take place on the third Tuesday of the month.
- The interview will take approximately 20 - 30 Minutes.
- You will be asked to provide 3 forms of ID at your interview, one of those documents will need to be a proof of address dated within the last 3 months.
- Following the interview, you will be informed within 3 days if you have been successful or not.
Volunteering roles at Royal Papworth
The purpose of the admin volunteer includes supporting central administration functions and departments across the Trust. Improving patient and staff experience by providing administrative support in areas where there is increased demand or where extra support will make an effective contribution to day to day running of services.
A charity voluteer ambassador represents Royal Papworth Charity at events and speaks to groups in the community.
The role of a collection tin volunteer is to raise funds and awareness for Royal Papworth Charity in their local community.
A community volunteer provides support at events, helps run collections, or helps Royal Papworth Charity with administration tasks.
A meet and greet volunteer helps create a friendly, welcoming and helpful environment in the main reception areas of Royal Papworth Hospital. They offer directional advice and practical assistance as required by patients and visitors, in collaboration with other ‘front of house’ staff.
A patient safety partner (PSP) is a volunteer who is actively involved in how we learn from patient safety events. They will help to ensure that the people who use our services are at the heart of our learning and improvement by contributing to the development of the safety culture and patient safety systems.
The purpose of the pharmacy volunteer role is to support the smooth-running of the pharmacy. This will be under the direct supervision of the pharmacy staff.
The purpose of a quality assurance reviewer is to assist the Trust’s internal quality assurance process by supporting patient focused self-assessments of the CQC Fundamentals of Care regulations. This will involve visiting inpatients to gain opinions on the care and treatment they receive at Royal Papworth Hospital.
A patient research ambassador is someone who promotes health research from their point of view. They could be a patient, service user, carer or lay person who is enthusiastic about health research. They should be willing to communicate that to other patients, carers, members of the public and healthcare professionals. The patient research ambassador role is about promoting opportunities to take part in research within the NHS and will help ensure the patient experience of participating in research is clear and simple.
The purpose of a ward visitor is to offer our patients extra support and companionship. As some patients do not have visitors of their own and some do not want to 'bother' nursing staff, it can lead to them becoming quite isolated. Having someone to spend a little time with can help to improve a patient's experience and make them feel more at ease. Ward visitors also assist ward staff to help make the patients' mealtimes as enjoyable as possible. They support the patient with activities offered on the ward and support the patients with giving their feedback via the iPad.
Meet some of our volunteers
As well as learning new skills, you can help to support the running of the UK's leading heart and lung hospital. That could be by assisting staff, giving feedback on various forums and groups to allow us to continuously improve the care we give, or helping the running of services.
Paul
Patient Support
Paul has provided invaluable support to many of our pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA) patients throughout their journey, such as Debbie (above). As someone who had PEA surgery in 2016, he talks to any patients considering the operation, answering any and all questions, either in person or over the phone.
He also spends time in our atrium, greeting patients as they arrive to help guide them to where they need to go. He also uses this as an opportunity to visit any of the PEA patients with whom he has spoken while they are on the ward recovering after their operation.
Val and Pauline
Pharmacy
Val and Pauline have made a huge difference to the workload in our dispensary. They answer the phone and the dispensary hatch and log the work onto our tracking system. All things that seem small but they make a big impact when the pharmacy dispensary workload is high as it means the team can concentrate
on outpatients and safe discharges with fewer distractions.
Volunteer Resources
Contact
If you would like more information or details on how you can apply please contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) Team, who will be able to advise you.
Tel: 01223 638896 | 01223 638963
Email: papworth.volunteers@nhs.net