Home from Hospital, Generic Volunteer coordinator’s role Activities

• Promote the project externally for recruitment and possible patients – letters to parish councils asking for helping in recruiting possible volunteers and spreading the message of our service using social media and posters around the hospital and community.
• All related administrative processes for recruitment (References, health screening, DBS).
• Providing of an “awareness day” to potential volunteers giving them a feel of what they could expect as a settle in service volunteer.
• Delivery of settle in service volunteer Induction training, annual top up training and specialist training sessions.
• Provision of competency based training - for each volunteer off site in patients home
• Promote the project internally - tending relevant meetings e.g Sisters and discharge co-ordinators meetings, Red to Green, bed meetings, building relationship with Transport.
• Establishing good working relationships with relevant stakeholders
• Ensuring settle in volunteers working in the community comply with the lone working policy
• Providing regular contact and support to settle in service volunteers to encourage motivation and loyalty and ensure that their role is valued.
• Sending out a regular newsletter to volunteers.
• Ensuring all volunteering activities meet with the Trust’s service needs and are carried out in line with policies regarding health and safety, legal requirements, environmental, equal opportunity policies and general duty of care.
• Communicating with patients, carers and families
• Carrying out suitability assessments - Patients are assessed by the service coordinator upon receipt of a referral from the relevant health/social care professional to ensure that they are suitable for Settle in and do not require a more substantive discharge package.
• Identifying a suitable volunteer to meet the patient at home at an agreed time.
• Liaising with transport to ensure volunteers are at the patients home at time of arrival
• Documenting all actions taken and communications carried out in the medical record and on the volunteers’ record sheets.
• Maintaining contemporaneous and accurate patient records in line with legal and departmental requirements in medical documents.
• Responsibility for liaison with members of the multidisciplinary team, social services and voluntary agencies, to ensure effective communication and seamless service.
• Maintaining accurate data collection and produce reports on service activity.
• Feeding back to stakeholders on outcomes and discharges (Report to Care and Patient Experience Board)

The Coordinator has worked alongside ward staff, discharge coordinators and occupational therapists to identify patients suitable for the service.