I love working with volunteers

Working on the Helpforce project at Chelsea is great as I am close to the action. A lot of problem solving and creative thinking takes place. I see the potential to make an immense difference to the health service by trialling the Helpforce model and proving it through robust data collection and analysis. We are a small and wonderful staff team and we have an amazing army of people from all sorts of backgrounds who generously give their time and are keen to make this work.

It is inspiring to hear the huge difference that small acts of service, make. One of the main tasks of the bleep volunteers is to help with the delivery of drugs from the pharmacy to the ward so that patients can go home quickly. The pharmacy team remark on how much faster these go out now. This means that staff on the wards can spend more time providing care to patients. We’ve had some wonderful examples of people with disabilities getting more involved in the trust. I’m very much looking forward to seeing what we achieve over the next few months.

Nadia Bettega, Helpforce Project Manager, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust