If you work with or come into contact with one of the 500 or more volunteers working at St Mary’s Hospital and across the Island community, taking the time to say a personal ‘thank you’ to them would mean a lot – that’s the message this National Volunteers Week (1st-12th June).
The dedicated team of volunteers who work with local NHS services provide invaluable support in helping staff to deliver the best possible care and making every patient’s visit to hospital or clinic a better experience. From giving a welcoming smile, a reassuring word, a friendly escort, to assisting on the hospital wards offering hot drinks to patients, helping with the completion of menu cards, undertaking errands and talking to patients. The roles are varied and all help patients and staff to feel listened to, valued and cared for as well as help to make a staff member or patient’s day that little brighter.
Hannah Joyce, Isle of Wight NHS Trust Volunteer Co-Ordinator joined the Trust recently and has been overwhelmed by the generosity and spirit of her team of volunteers:
“We are incredibly lucky to have such dedicated people who give their own time to help others, for free, week after week. Our volunteers are efficient and independent and are very much considered respected members of the teams they work alongside. Volunteers really do make a difference.
“Of all the positive feedback I get from our volunteers, the moments that seem to mean the most are when they get a personal ‘thank you’ from patients and staff. So this Volunteers Week we are encouraging staff and patients to take a minute to say ‘thank you’ to them for all that they do.”
Some of the roles volunteers are involved in include:
• Helping on the wards and clinics
• Befriending patients
• Chaplaincy
• A &E listeners
• Members of the Patient Council
• Hospital Car Service drivers
• Leaflet and poster maintenance
• Gardening
• Meet and Greet
Volunteers also work with organisations like Sunshine Hospital Radio (https://www.sunshineradioiow.com/) which broadcast to the hospital bedside 12 hours per day, 7 days a week, and the Friends of St. Mary’s Hospital (https://www.fosmiow.co.uk/), who provide the shop, café and ward trolley services.
For more information about the role of a Volunteer in the NHS got to www.iow.nhs.uk.
