Volunteering
Thank you for your interest in volunteering with Team QEH
Volunteering at the QEH is a wonderful way to support our staff and patients. All our roles have been designed to enhance the experience of both staff and patients in the hospital. We are a friendly bunch who are always ready to welcome new volunteers to our team, and if you aren’t sure exactly what our volunteers can do, please read on for details of the varied and exciting opportunities we have here.
Don’t just take our word for it either, check out our ‘A Day in the Life’ case studies from some of our team. Here the team explain, in their own words, what they do and why they volunteer with us. There are so many reasons why people choose to volunteer with us. Our volunteers join to meet new people, to fill some spare time, to develop new skills and improve confidence or simply to give something back for the care they, their friends or family may have received.
Our Volunteer Roles
These roles are a selection of what our volunteers at QEH help support with.
Front Desk
The volunteers here are the welcoming face of the hospital, helping provide information to people arriving at the hospital. This can be from where certain departments are located, answering questions, and where needed providing assistance i.e. pushing a wheelchair. They help provide support on the Front Desk, Monday to Friday between 8.30am and 4.30pm.
Pharmacy Runners
With multiple departments, and staff resources in the wards primarily focused on patient care, Pharmacy Runners play a significant role in ensuring medication is taken to the wards in time for discharge and in general. They will regularly clear 10,000 steps in their day, helping cover Monday to Friday between 11am and 4.30pm.
Macmillan
Both in the Treatment Centre, and the new Wellbeing Centre, volunteers help provide a settling environment for people attending. In the Treatment Centre, volunteers help with a range of tasks including providing light refreshments and social conversations, so patients feel at ease. In the Wellbeing Centre, volunteers help support the different groups for people affected by cancer, with new roles emerging such as Complimentary Therapists and Support Buddy. They help cover Monday to Friday between 8.30am and 4.30pm.
Ward
We have multiple wards that require volunteer support. These include, Gayton, Feltwell, Shouldam, Castleacre, West Newton, West Raynham, Rudham, Day Surgery and Acute Medical Unit. They all have different specialties, and the volunteers help with a range of tasks. These include providing light refreshments, trips to pharmacy and pathology, social conversations with the patients and other duties where needed to help support the staff on the ward.
Chaplaincy
We have several Chaplaincy Volunteers who help provide calm conversations with patients on the different wards and in A and E. They cover Monday – Friday and will go around the wards seeing who would like a conversation. This can often be of great benefit to patients, especially any that may not have visitors. We also have Sunday Chaplaincy Volunteers.
There may be on occasions roles outside those listed above or opportunity to develop a new role based on skills/experience of a volunteer.
Benefits of volunteering
Our volunteers benefit from the following:
- Becoming a valued part of Team QEH
- Opportunity to extend their personal development
- Free parking at QEH
- Discounted meals in The Hub at QEH
- Recognition at our annual QEH Team Awards Event
- Opportunity to increase knowledge of caring for patients and volunteering in a hospital setting
Contact us for more information
If you are thinking about volunteering within our Trust and you would like to know more about the type of Voluntary roles available, please contact the Voluntary Services Manager.
Joanne Rowe
Voluntary Services Manager
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn NHS Foundation Trust
Gayton Road
King's Lynn
PE30 4ET
Phone: 01553 214687
Email:
volunteerapplications@qehkl.nhs.uk