Volunteering in Children’s Services at Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC), Nottingham started in 2001 following a 3 year grant from Opportunities for Volunteering. The project was then sponsored by the Hospital and Community Friends of QMC and is now core funded by the hospital. There are currently 35 volunteers working in Children’s Services, with 12 distinct volunteer roles:
- Play workers School assistants
- Ward assistants Complementary therapy services
- Family support News/website support
- Admin support Diabetic support
- Arts volunteer Driver/deliverer
The majority of the volunteers (54%) are within the 16-25 years age range and 85% are female. Reasons cited for volunteering range from wanting to give something back to the hospital, to gaining career experience and to building confidence and updating skills.
The Volunteer Co-ordinator tries to place volunteers with a named person (e.g. a volunteer play worker with a play worker or nursery nurse), as this ensures consistency in an environment where staff frequently change. She also meets volunteers every couple of months for a quick chat, and has a longer annual review with volunteers at which time training needs are sourced. As the workforce is young, recruitment is an ongoing process as around 80% of volunteers leave within the first 9 months, some to do paid work or training. Five volunteers have gone on to become paid play workers in the hospital, and many more have taken up training courses there.
Many of the roles require that volunteers assist specialist teams, and volunteers bring a wealth of experience. The complementary therapy service is staffed by a grade F nurse with help from a volunteer complementary therapist, the hospital’s art co-ordinator is assisted by a volunteer with a BA in contemporary arts, the family support worker is aided by an retired QMC nurse, and 4 volunteers with experience of diabetes offer residential support to the specialist diabetes team.
Further information:
Eva Bradley
Volunteer Co-ordinator
Directorate of Women’s, Children’s and Clinical Support Services
Queen’s Medical Centre – UHN-NHS
Derby Road
Nottingham NG7 2UH
Tel: 0115 924 9924
E-mail: Eva Bradley@qmc.nhs.uk
