Role description: Gentle Movement Volunteer – Care of the Elderly

Thank you to Laura Shalev-Greene Head of Volunteering at Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for sharing this document.

About this role:

Elderly patients lose 2-5 % of their muscle strength daily with bed rest in Hospital. 10 days Bedrest is equivalent to 10 years muscle ageing in the elderly. There is a big National drive around getting our Elderly patients out of bed and moving. The 1000 days campaign is about acknowledging that many of our Elderly patients have a life expectancy of up to 1000 days. The focus is on doing what we can to maintain their function in Hospital to maximize their quality of life on discharge home to a place of choice. Gentle Movement Volunteers are essential to helping our elderly patients maintain their strength and function through exercises whilst in Hospital. Gentle Movement Volunteers will be using an app called A Touch Away, which is similar to Zoom but keeps volunteers’ contact details secure. Volunteers will be connecting with patients across our 3 state of the art Dementia Friendly wards. Physiotherapists will prescribe specific exercises tailored to each patient which the volunteers will practice with the patients over A Touch Away. A Physiotherapy student will be on-hand to help you and the patient should they need this. You will not be left ‘alone’ with the patient.

What we are looking for:

· Can demonstrate a sense of maturity as well as compassion for others

· Good communication and listening skills with a friendly attitude are essential as many of our patients have barriers to communication such as deafness and dementia.

· An ability to use your own initiative

· Respect boundaries and confidentiality at all times

· No specific physio skills are needed, however volunteers should have an interest in promoting patients health and well -being.

· Willing to use own technology, e.g. tablet computer, to download A Touch Away (a free app) and receive calls from the Hospital to facilitate exercise sessions with patients.

Essential requirement / commitment:

· Over 16 years of age

· All Gentle Movement Volunteers will require a DBS check

· Commitment of at least 1 shift / 3 hours per week for a minimum of 6 months

· Live, work or study within a 5 mile radius of Kingston Hospital

· Before you get started with your volunteering role, you will be invited to attend the Volunteer Induction event via MS Teams. This will give you a full insight into the basic things that you need to know before you start your volunteering journey at the trust. This training is mandatory.

· Participation in the training relevant to your role and confidential discussion of any reasonable adjustments required to meet your needs.

· To live our values through your volunteering role at Kingston Hospital

How will I be supported and what will I gain from this opportunity?

· Join an enthusiastic volunteering team of people who want to make a difference, just like you.

· 121 support from one of our Peer Support Volunteers.

· Learn new skills and develop existing skills.

· Bespoke training from our physiotherapy team.

· The experience can contribute to your personal development and confidence.

· You will be making an important contribution to your local community throughout your volunteering journey at the hospital.

· Invitation to 2 x annual awards to celebrate the support our volunteers give. An opportunity to meet other volunteers at the trust.

· Annual refresher training.

· A reference to support applications – please kindly note that this is only provided after our minimum commitment has been met.

For the full document please download the attachment.

You may also be interested in:

• Royal Voluntary Service – volunteers improving mobility and wellbeing of older patients
• Falls Prevention volunteer role description
• Hospital exercise support volunteer role description
• Mobility volunteer role description

More volunteer role descriptions can be found in the Volunteer Role Library