Volunteering at The Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS
Trust
including New Cross Hospital, West Park Hospital, and
some community health services
Vision of RWT Volunteer Service:
To support and recruit a team of volunteerswho will work
in partnership with each other, as well as staff, in helping the
Trust improve patient outcomes and experiences
What do volunteers do?
Volunteers help us with providing that and are involved in many
diverse roles, some of which are listed below. Ways in which
volunteers currently help us are:
- Driving our visitor’s scooter
- Visitors Guides (Wayfinders)
- Patient meal time help on our
wards
- Supporting patients in the acute hospital
ward who have dementia
- Volunteering for the Chaplaincy
service
- Carrying out patient surveys on hospital
wards
- Arts for Health scheme- patient activities
on the wards
- Breastfeeding Peer Support Scheme (click
here to find out more)
Training is available to prepare volunteers for many of the
roles. Most roles donsome spare time on your hands to help and an
ability to communicate with others well.
Work Experience and Student Placements
We welcome applications from local students to volunteer,
however make efforts to point out that volunteering is not work
experience. It does not involve shadowing health staff or providing
clinical observations.
We are unable to offer volunteer placements solely to meet
requirements of a college course or Higher Education application
criteria.
If you feel that you could benefit from a work experience
placement (rather than a volunteering one) please see our other
website section;
www.royalwolverhamptonhospitals.nhs.uk/patients__public/work_experience
Frequently asked questions
Is there any age limit?
The minimum lower
age limit for volunteering is 18 years. There is no upper age
limit, providing the volunteer is in good health.
How long will the process take?
Upon
joining, new volunteers will need to undertake a medical
assessment, and criminal records check if they will be working with
children or vulnerable adults. This could take a few weeks for
checks to come through. Training may also be offered before regular
volunteering can commence.
How long will I need to volunteer?
We ask
for a minimum commitment of a few hours per week, for a minimum of
6 months. There is no maximum limit on length of placement.
How could I become a Trust volunteer?
If you are thinking about volunteering, we really value and
appreciate your interest and kind offer of help.
We welcome new volunteers and aim to provide them with full
support and training while they are being inducted and registered
to the organisation. We work towards providing 4 intakes of new
volunteers per year, so that a planned approach can be provided
with matching the volunteers up to suitable opportunities, and
arranging their induction and training.
Unfortunately our recruitment has now ended for 2012.
If you are interested in applying to volunteer in 2013, we will
be holding 4 intakes in the year (February, May, August, and
November) with up to 40 vacancies at each intake. (These events are
for recruitment of Trust volunteers only and do not include
recruitment to other schemes we manage such as Walking for Health,
Breastfeeding Peer Support, Radio Wulfrun, Expert Patients, and
Stroke/ Renal Buddy groups)
To register your interest in becoming a general Trust volunteer,
please complete the application form and return.
Applications will then be acknowledged within one month, and
successful applications invited along to the next volunteer
recruitment event. Please note that sometimes we unfortunately
receive more applications than we can provide opportunities for,
and in these situations shortlisting criteria may apply to
applications.
Contact Details
Eleanor Morris
Volunteer Services Co-Ordinator
Patient Experience Team
The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust
Direct Dial: 01902 694111
Email: eleanormorris@nhs.net