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Our Community – Supporting Patients and helping Staff

Julia Clarke, Director of Corporate GovernanceHannah Roy, Governance and Membership Manager

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Volunteering at SaTH

• We have grown our public volunteers from 34 to over 500

• In addition we are support by over 500 volunteers from the League of Friends and Royal Voluntary Service

• Overall responsibility of Volunteers lies within the Corporate Governance Directorate of the Trust

Trust Volunteers

• 18+ • Young Volunteer

Scheme• Staff Volunteer

Scheme• ‘Making a difference

Days’

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Getting the basics right• Policy• Recruitment process• Handbook and training• Buy-in and support from Board to

Ward• Strategy

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The traditional role of volunteers

Not one size fits all• Important to use

people skills, knowledge and being creative!

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Young people volunteering in Hospitals?

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Young Volunteer Scheme

• The Challenges!• Why have a young Volunteer Scheme?• 16-18 years old• 6month -12 month volunteer placements on a

clinical area• Working with local schools and colleges• Providing additional training – Dementia Friends,

Sighted Guiding

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Staff Volunteer Scheme

• Why have a staff Volunteer Scheme?

• Types of placement – Regular placement– Ad-hoc– Informal

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Benefits of staff Volunteering

• For the individual:– Pride, motivation and ownership– Learn new skills -which may not be possible in their

day to day job– Improve and increase staff engagement– Understand how different parts of the organisation

works– Beneficial effect on health and well being

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Staff Volunteers

• For the Trust:– Helping staff to develop as individuals, bringing back

new skills, confidence and enthusiasm to their department

– Enhancing the Trust’s reputation and truly living by our values

– Improving the patient’s experience– Support in clinical areas in time of high demand

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Making a Difference Days

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• Open to local businesses, charities and schools• Volunteering days • No patient contact• Supervised• No on-going commitment• Building links with the local community

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Memory Garden before pictures

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After…..

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The spider web effect

• Understanding individual’s motivation

• Building relationships• Reputation• Using existing networks• Word of Mouth

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Involving local businesses

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Do Volunteers add value?

“in terms of ‘average return on investment’ for volunteers it has been estimated to be around 11 times the actual cost of supporting volunteer”

Volunteering in Acute Trusts in England, Understanding the Scale and Impact, The Kings Fund, Nov 2013

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What support to volunteers need?

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• Interview• Enhanced DBS check• Two satisfactory references• Occupational Health Clearance• Mandatory training DVD• Signed confidentiality and volunteer agreement• 3 hour training session• On going training and support

How do you expand your volunteer workforce

• Meeting the needs of the service• Working in collaboration• Robust processes• Getting the right people for the right roles • Have a vision – but be flexible and be ready to

change• Think outside of the box• Share good practice with other organisations

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Acknowledging your volunteers and staff

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The Future

• A community approach – Helping Hands

• Engaging with more schools and colleges

• Increase the number of volunteer opportunities

• Work with more local businesses

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Thank you….

Any questions?

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