UCLH: Rapid Response Volunteer

RESTRICTIONS

Please only apply for this role if you can meet the minimum time commitment.

Students:

We welcome applications from students. However, we do not accept applications from 2nd year students after the 1st November or Final year students as study commitments conflict with sustaining a regular commitment.

ROLE OVERVIEW AND PURPOSE

At UCLH giving your time helps make a big difference to our patient’s lives. Having volunteers enables us to do more, whether that is time to spend with patients, or helping give our teams extra capacity. Volunteers are vital in helping the Trust deliver the highest quality healthcare as possible to our many patients. Volunteering is also an excellent opportunity for people to give back to their local hospital and to help make a real difference.

Need within the hospital is constantly changing with different requests for volunteer support coming in all the time. As such, we are looking for volunteers who are entirely flexible in which role they undertake and adaptable to move roles in line with changing ward and patient need

Rapid Response Volunteers (RRV) enable us to respond to this need whether it is a request from the wards to pick up medication from the pharmacy so a patient can be discharged, or a need to give extra support to a patient with dementia who needs to attend several appointments in different departments.  You will also be providing mealtime support on the wards, and helping with our Discharge Team.

As such this role provides a great opportunity to make an impact to wards and their patients in line with their changing needs.

This role would suit anyone who is proactive, adaptable, outgoing and good with people. 

BENEFITS OF THE ROLE

• Experience volunteering at one of the most prestigious NHS Trusts in the UK
• Experience of providing crucial support and customer service to some of the most vulnerable people
• Ability to gain experience and insight into working within the healthcare sector, including an excellent opportunity for those considering a career in health services or in customer service support roles.
• Volunteering with a committed, knowledgeable and caring team of staff and volunteers
• Induction and ongoing training and development
• References (on request, after 6 months/half the minimum volunteering period)

• Out of pocket expenses are covered in line with our policy (currently travel is covered to the value of £8.90 per day and meal expenses at £4.50)

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Reporting in to Voluntary Services on arrival
• Being easily contactable by carrying the RRV mobile phone
• Checking in with the Nurse in Charge as needed
• Fulfilling priority shopping requests for patients (food requests and those enabling discharge). Completing shopping forms with patients.  
• Completing Friends and Family surveys which seeks feedback about the hospital stay
• Picking up medication for patients
• Escorting patients to other parts of the hospital, as directed by the Nurse in Charge/senior staff
• Providing non priority wheelchair portering e.g. taking patients from ED to the main hospital
• Helping new volunteers settle in
• Covering for other ward or outpatient volunteers who aren’t in, enabling us to provide a more consistent service
• Topping up patients’ water jugs (either take some fresh water jugs around on the trolley or refill from the cooler/beverage bay as required)
• Proactively befriending patients, their relatives and visitors
• Taking around the morning/afternoon free papers
• Promoting activities that help relieve boredom
• Promoting other volunteer services including the volunteer complementary therapy services, shopping service and patient library

Mealtime assistance duties

• Check in with the ward team before supporting any patients around eating in order to understand which patients can and can’t be supported.
• Support the soup trolley service, taking around soup
• Check that menu cards have been completed, returning those that haven’t to catering staff and chasing alternatives for patients who have missed ordering food
• Encourage patient’s to prepare for their meals by sitting upright, or sitting in their chairs by the side of their beds. NB volunteers are not involved in manual handling so clinical staff may need to be asked to position the patient correctly
• Offer to help patients move their trays and find the remote control to move their bed
• Encourage patients to perform hand hygiene duties to prepare for their meal e.g. offering to open the packets for them
• Support catering staff in taking the hot food trolleys round, distributing trays to patients
• Supporting patients with their meal and offering encouragement
• To engage in communication during meals to aid social interaction and stimulus to eat and drink
• To aid or assist a patient to prepare food such as cutting into smaller amounts or opening packets
• To report to the nursing staff any concerns about feeding e.g. patient not eating/drinking, struggling to swallow, signs of weight loss
• To go around after the hot meal has gone out to check with patients if anything has been missed and if they need any extra help with their meals
• Provide assisted feeding support

All of our ward volunteers will, as part of their regular role do assisted feeding which falls under the 'providing personal care' regulated activity.

Anyone who provides an adult with physical assistance with eating or drinking, going to the toilet, washing or bathing, dressing, oral care or care of the skin, hair or nails because of the adult’s age, illness or disability, is in regulated activity.

Voluntary services provide on-going assisted feeding training for all ward volunteers, including the ward and outpatients volunteers, to ensure they can provide patients with physical assistance when eating.

Volunteers complete the assisted feeding training as part of their induction process

Boundaries of the role

• Volunteers are not involved in any clinical duties or the manual handling of patients
• Volunteers must not provide any assisted feeding to patients unless they have attended the specific training
• Volunteers must not take patients’ bank cards to take out money or pay for goods on their behalf.
• Patients can only be taken off the ward/hospital site with the permission of the nurse in charge and after completion of a risk assessment e.g. inpatients being accompanied outside/to the shops or escorting outpatients home
• Patients can be taken in wheelchairs after volunteers have had wheelchair training
• Volunteers must not give out personal contact details (phone numbers, social media, email etc.)
• Volunteers must not go inside rooms which are strict contact precautions or respiratory

The role description is not intended to be exhaustive and it is likely that after consultation duties may be altered from time to time in the light of changing circumstances.

SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Essential

• To work with our values of teamwork, safety, kindness and improving
• To have a friendly and approachable manner and be able to engage with a diverse group of people
• To be able to prioritise tasks
• To be understanding and flexible in responding to people’s needs
• To have strong communication and interpersonal skills with a good command of the English Language
• To be able to present yourself in a professional manner to members of the public, patients and their families, and staff.
• To have a good grasp of boundaries
• To be patient, organised and calm and cope in a busy or stressful environment
• To understand ward and hospital etiquette
• To understand patient confidentiality
• To be able to demonstrate a patient-centred approach
• To be physically fit and able to stand/walk for 3 hours
• To be able to meet the minimum commitment periods for the role

Desirable

• To be able to speak other languages
• To have previous experience of being in a healthcare environment
• To have volunteered before successfully

Other

• All volunteers will be expected to undertake a health check prior to commencement and, if considered necessary, during their engagement with UCLH.