Volunteering

By helping our staff with tasks, supporting patients and visitors, and bringing a spirit of goodwill and enthusiasm to our hospitals, volunteers play a vital role in the working of our hospitals.

Volunteers do not carry out (or shadow) clinical work, or do work experience. They are not directly involved in patient care but they do help to provide the extra support we need. We do not offer any short-term volunteering opportunities than can only be done over the summer. 

Minimum requirements

We ask that volunteers are able to commit to a minimum of four hours per week for six months. This helps us to ensure that your experience is valuable and rewarding to you as well as our patients and staff.

The minimum age we can accept as a volunteer is 18 years old.

Opportunities

We offer a variety of roles and will help find or make a role that is suited to your experience, skills and wishes. Our voluntary service manager will help guide and support you through your volunteering.

Volunteering should work for you as well as us, which is why we value volunteers, offering them support and training, and why we insist on a culture of high standards.

Currently, volunteers are involved in numerous tasks throughout many areas of the Trust. Their work involves administration, fundraising, acting as patient guides to the various wards and departments, talking to patients, helping our rb&hArts team, as well as providing company for relatives while their loved ones have surgery. 

Support, development and training

We promote personal development for volunteers as well as staff and want you to benefit from volunteering for us. If you have an interest in a particular area or are a student and want to gain knowledge from specific departments and professionals, let us know and we will do our best to help.

All volunteers are trained in:

  • health and safety
  • fire evacuation
  • infection control (hand washing to combat hospital infections)
  • basic life support (if desired)
  • safeguarding
We supply you with:
  • detailed volunteer guidelines and building maps
  • clearly defined tasks for volunteers working on the wards