They have brought patients items brought in by loved ones over 2,500 times
23rd November 2020
Submitted by Mark Cruise, West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust
Prior to the pandemic, there were approximately 1,000 volunteers at West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust, carrying out over 40 different roles.
In February and March, due to concern about the pandemic, practically all volunteers had stopped coming in. In response to this, Voluntary Services quickly created a new role called ‘Response Volunteer’ specifically to help the Trust during the Covid Pandemic.
All other volunteering activities were halted. In less than two weeks, the team created the role, demonstrated to the Trust how these volunteers could be deployed, developed a face- to-face training session, and on-boarded 30 new volunteers.
Response Volunteers engage with patients and staff as part of a large multi-disciplinary team of nurses, doctors and therapists. Although the volunteers do not undertake clinical tasks, they play a key part as they provide the hospital with an extra pair of hands, assisting with tasks such as chatting to patients, distributing meals, making drinks and running errands for staff and patients
The first day the Response Volunteer Hub went into action was March 31st - and that week, they received an average of 30 requests for help per day. By July there were over 100 Response Volunteers and they were receiving over 100 requests each day. By the end of August, both the number of daily requests and the number of volunteers was over 120.
Once the Volunteer Hub had been set up and was fully operational, the team were happy to share their learning and expertise with other voluntary services, speaking at Helpforce and Pears #Iwill video conferences, contributing to the Institute for Voluntary Action Research guidance for Youth Volunteering during Covid-19 and also writing a blog for Helpforce.
More recently the team provided advice and support to the Voluntary Services Team at Lister Hospital who are setting up their own Response Volunteer service:
“The Voluntary Services team at Watford General Hospital were instrumental in supporting our team at Lister Hospital to implement the Response Volunteer model here. They were incredibly helpful in sharing information, documentation and advice on how to set up and run the service. The Response Volunteer programme is an excellent way for volunteers to support both patients and staff where and when the need is greatest – their success and contribution deserves recognition and highest praise. We are truly grateful to the team for their support.”
- Claire Lyon: Voluntary Services Manager – Lister Hospital
During the Pandemic, the Volunteer team have recruited, trained and on-boarded over 120 volunteers. Those volunteers have contributed over 5,000 hours of their time to support the Trust. They have brought patients items brought in by loved ones over 2,500 times, as well as over 600 pieces of post.
The success and impact of the team has been incredible to watch and has improved the standing of Volunteering within the Trust and the community to a massive extent.
The Role of Response Volunteer was designed to be as flexible as possible – to respond to the needs of the patients, families and staff of the hospital and to be aware that these needs change on a daily basis – especially during a pandemic. The role of the Voluntary Services Team was to ensure the existing volunteers had the training, knowledge and confidence to carry out their roles, to ensure as many requests as possible were met and to also stay in touch with those who had to step back from volunteering – to ensure they were not forgotten.
The number of people putting themselves forward to volunteer during the pandemic was incredible, and as such, there was a massive amount of administrative work to manage all requests and as well as managing the Response Volunteer Hub on a daily basis.
From the start, Response Volunteers were a crucial link between patients and family members: ferrying belongings up to wards, delivering post and assisting with phone and video calls.
“A huge thank you to the Volunteer Team for making my Mums stay a lot more bearable. As we couldn’t visit her. Knowing there would be this daily contact provided by you made things easier for all of us.” – Liz B (daughter of patient)
Another big role the volunteers had was in ensuring all staff on Covid wards had access to water and snacks during their shifts, as PPE made working conditions uncomfortable and difficult to take breaks.
Due to the generosity of the public, the Trust received a huge amount of donations, and volunteers played a big part in helping process and distribute these donations. Our Charity (Raise) Director Sofia Sheikh said this about the team:
“The volunteer team were an integral part of Raise’s COVID appeal and we would not have been able to have the impact for our staff and patients without them. Their tireless enthusiasm and selflessness helped us when we were most in need and Raise is grateful for each and every volunteer that formed a vital part of #TeamWestHerts.”
Our Deputy Chief Nurse, David Thorpe, said:
“Having spoken to staff throughout the organisation about our volunteers, their commons are one of commitment, energy, politeness, great support, and kindness. You cannot underestimate the help and support they gave for the well-being of our staff and patients at this time and continue to do so.
“I have on many occasions praised the work they do and it has been a privilege to get to know them. I hope that what they have learned about teamwork, compassion, creativity, emotions, resilience and how in the depths of immense challenges, by pulling together we can overcome them will serve them well for the future.
“In my opinion In whatever they do in the future our communities and society will be well served, well done to all.”
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