Volunteering

Volunteer with us

We value the contributions from our volunteers and what they give back to the community. If you would like to volunteer and can commit to a minimum of six months, where possible, then please get in touch using the details on this page.

When we have vacancies, they are advertised here, so please take a look and contact us if you are interested. Our team will support you through the application process – you can find out more about this in the volunteer expectations and application process section.

Volunteer expectations – prior to placement

Time

Give a minimum of six months commitment where possible.
Volunteering is not the same as a short-term work experience activity. For work experience, please contact kentchft.workexperience@nhs.net.

Age

Young volunteers will be required to have a parent consent form signed and cannot volunteer in areas of direct patient treatment in clinical areas.

Travel

Although we pay travel expenses, we aim to find you a placement as near to your home as possible. If the placement location is too far, we may suggest other volunteer organisations for you to contact.

Recruitment

complete a volunteer application form
provide two referees details – not family or in-laws
complete a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check (if applicable to the role)
agree to a confidentiality and security of information statement
attend an informal interview (virtually, via telephone or in person).

Please be aware that recruitment can take some time, depending on team capacity, response time and DBS confirmation.

Training – you will need to:

participate in identified training, dependent on the placement area
comply with all policies and procedures, particularly in relation to confidentiality, accident reporting, health and safety
fulfil the duties and responsibilities set out in the volunteer role description/risk assessment.

If you want to volunteer with us, our recruitment process will support you with what to expect?

Volunteer recruitment process

Become a member of our People's Network

We also have opportunities for you to volunteer as a member of our People’s Network. We have a team dedicated to recruiting and supporting patients and carers to work directly with our services to co-design, develop and improve the work we do. Watch our participation video and find out more about how you can get involved with patient engagement on our how can you get involved page.

Work experience

If you would like to discuss short-term work experience as part of a student placement, you can contact us at kentchft.workexperience@nhs.net or find out more on our work experience page.

Volunteer to career vacancies

Whether you’re at the start of your career, or you’re looking to switch careers, our volunteer to career roles offer a unique way to gain valuable experience in a healthcare setting with support to gain a fulfilling career in the NHS or health and social care. Read more about one of our volunteers volunteer to career story.

Healthy communities admin support volunteer

This is an exciting opportunity to support the Healthy Communities Steering Group and be a point of contact across the trust and the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector. This would be suitable for someone interested in volunteering with the aim of gaining skills for a future career in an admin role.

Flexible to suit the needs of the volunteer (between hours of 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday). Ideally two to three hours a week or fortnight.

Based in Ashford to start with the option to then volunteer from home after induction.

Role description

To provide support to the Healthy Communities Steering Group by:

taking meeting minutes.
providing assistance with booking events/training.
attending virtual or in person meetings/events.
carrying out research about services and events taking place locally.
updating the referrals and signposting webpage for the Healthy Communities Steering Group by removing out of date content and adding new information.

Possible in addition responsibilities (depending on capacity and interests):

attending virtual or in person meetings/events on behalf of the Health Inequalities Team.
passing on details about any community events to the Public Health Events Officer for inclusion in the monthly events update.
Providing outreach support at public health events, this could include taking height, weight and blood pressure measurements.
providing support with the creation of a network of trust staff completing project work with the VCSE sector. This would include taking meeting minutes and communications.

NHS Health Checks outreach volunteer

This role is ideal for those who would like to learn more about health prevention and interventions. The volunteering position has been created as part of our volunteer to career project. If you have initiative, enjoy talking to people and would like to explore a career within health and social care this role would give you a great foundation of understanding health improvements in community health prevention.

The last volunteer we had join this role developed skills and now has paid employment within the NHS.

Volunteers will enjoy interacting with the public and be an ambassador for the NHS health check service. Volunteering would involve attending outreach events in east Kent, providing brief intervention conversations, signposting to other services and engaging the public in the free NHS health checks available on the day. Travelling to various sites across East Kent is essential for this role (either by car or public transport).

After the induction period this role would include shadowing advisors and training to undertake checks appropriate for volunteers, for example taking blood pressures or measuring BMI.

This role is Kent wide and access to your own vehicle is required due to locations. Minimum one volunteer day per week, typically minimum of five hours.

One You volunteer

This role would be suitable for anyone who would like to learn more about Adult Health Improvement and local interventions. Volunteers will enjoy interacting with the public and be an ambassador for One You services and the trust.

Volunteering would involve supporting staff and services within the One You shop with welcoming the public, providing brief intervention conversations, signposting to other services. There is also the opportunity to get involved with some of the activities on site and at local community events.

After an induction period, there will be training provided to enable volunteer to undertake biometric measures such as blood pressure, weight, BMI and some admin tasks. There will also be opportunity to shadow One You advisors delivering One You services.

Hours: Minimum one day a week for three hours.

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays or Fridays (anytime between 9.30am to 4.30pm).

Optional: The shop opens one Saturday a month and support on this day would be preferred but not essential.

Location: Ashford One You Shop.

To find out more - Volunteer your way into an NHS career.

Volunteer vacancies

Wellbeing Day Centre volunteer

Our wellbeing day centre is looking for people to come and volunteer to support with the programmes therapeutic activities. This includes topical discussions, daily national newspapers, quizzes and games, crafts and much more. Clients benefit from social interaction, while the centre offers some respite for carers and relatives. On some days there is also a visiting pets as therapy dog. The centre supports people with long-term conditions, dementia and elderly people who need support to better care for themselves.

The hours would be a minimum of two hours on a Friday between 10am to 2pm once a week. The centre is based at the Edenbridge Health Memorial Centre.

Falls group volunteer in Deal

This is an opportunity to support the postural falls group at the Landmark Centre, Deal. The falls team are looking for a volunteer to support the falls leads with setting up the chairs for the class, observing and engaging participants during the session and helping with packing up the chairs etc at the end. This would be an ideal volunteer role for anyone who enjoys engaging with patients and helping people.

Hours are Thursdays 9.30 to 11.15am.

You can find out more information on our Falls Service in east Kent.

Volunteer facilitator – supporting people with long term health conditions

Volunteer facilitators are vital to the success of the Expert Patients Programme (EPP) and make a difference to people living with one or more long-term health conditions.

If you would like to be a facilitator, you need to:

Be living with a long-term health condition or to have close personal experience of someone who lives with a long-term health condition.
Have the time available to attend the training (two 2-hour, 30-minute sessions a week, for seven weeks).
Have good listening skills.
Be able to commit to delivering at least one course a year.
Be able to work with a small group of people and build a rapport with them.
Be ready to learn new ways of approaching long-term health conditions.
Be an effective communicator.

Find out how to apply for the role.

Meet and greet Edenbridge Memorial Health Centre

This is an opportunity to support the welcome desk at Edenbridge Memorial Health Centre. Supporting patients checking in, helping patients to set themselves up on the online booking system and providing information on services within the building. This would be an ideal volunteer role for anyone who enjoys engaging with the public and helping people.

Minimum one volunteer shift once a week or fortnight. Hours can be flexible anytime Monday, Wednesday or Friday between 9am to 3pm (mornings preferable).

Walk and talk leader

Do you enjoy walking?

Do you have a few hours that you could spare?

Would you like to lead a small walking group?

We’re looking for friendly, local volunteers to lead walks across east Kent and Swale to join the Walk and Talk scheme. You’ll be helping to support people of all ages and fitness levels to get out walking locally; providing a sociable, safe and healthy way for local people to improve their physical and mental health. To find out more about what we do please see our One You webpage and to apply please complete an interest form.

Patient safety partner

At KCHFT we are committed to supporting people in our community to live well and we need your help to continue with our mission. The Patient safety partner is a new and evolving role developed by NHS England to help improve patient safety across the health care system in the UK.

Patient safety partners will work alongside our colleagues, patients and families to influence and improve safety within the trust and in the community. Experience of working in the NHS is not essential, just a genuine desire to support patient safety improvement. A training package and ongoing support will be provided by our Patient Safety Team.

If you are enthusiastic, forward thinking, can communicate openly and have the time to commit to the role, we are keen to hear from you.

Hawkhurst gardeners

Would you like the opportunity to help your local hospital in a special and unique way? The catering team at Hawkhurst, Kent has an exciting sustainability project where the service produces home grown fruit and vegetables. So far, the plot has produced tomatoes, strawberries, courgettes, lettuce, spring onion, potatoes, broad and runner beans. The garden not only provides produce for patient meals, but helps patients and colleagues mental and physical wellbeing too.

We are looking for individuals who would like to volunteer some of their time to make a difference and help this wonderful project. So, if you could spare some time each week, and you like the idea of getting involved with some gardening please get in touch with our voluntary services.

Community Hospital volunteer

This is a flexible and exciting opportunity to support our staff in a non-clinical role across various areas of the service. One day you could be supporting on the wards playing board games with a patient and the next providing support with the discharge process.

If you are local to one of our community hospitals, have a couple of hours a week or fortnight to spare and enjoy interacting with people then we’d like to hear from you. This is a rewarding role and chance to support in our community hospitals with the benefit of NHS training and engagement.

We are looking for volunteers at the following sites: Westview (Tenterden), Whitstable, Faversham, Hawkhurst, Deal and Tonbridge.

To find out more information about our hospitals please visit: Community hospitals (kentcht.nhs.uk)

Please complete an interest form if you’d like to apply to volunteer at one of the above hospitals.

Breastfeeding peer support volunteer

Do you have personal breastfeeding experience? Would you like to support other mums who are – or who are considering – breastfeeding?

We are looking for volunteers for our local breastfeeding support groups across Kent. Our breastfeeding volunteers are local women who have breastfed at least one child. You will take part in a training programme, receive on-going development and supervision.

To become a breastfeeding volunteer, you need to be a good listener, sympathetic and able to give simple information to support families with their infant feeding journeys. You’ll volunteer alongside professionals and speak to women at breastfeeding drop-ins or antenatal sessions at our Kent Family hubs.

Full training will be given for this volunteer role.

Our hubs are open Monday to Friday, hours vary but are usually between 9am and 5pm.

For more information on this role, please contact kentchft.infantfeedingteam@nhs.net

How to apply

If you are interested in any of the above roles please complete the Volunteer interest form. Our team will be in touch if we have a suitable position open. Please note for roles based at our hospitals or sites only submit a form if you live within five miles of where you wish to volunteer. If you have any questions please contact the team.

If you cannot see a role above but would still like to apply to volunteer, please complete the same form and we will keep your details to contact you for any future opportunities that become available.

Volunteer interest form

Contact us

0300 013 2045, select option two
kentchft.engagement@nhs.net

Patient and Carer Partnership Team
Trinity House
Eureka Business Park
110 / 120 Upper Pemberton
Ashford
TN25 4AZ

Please read the volunteer expectations to find out more about what happens before you apply to and start a volunteer role. You can apply by contacting us, using the details above.

Meet the team

Claire Helen Baldock, Voluntary Service Manager

Claire joined KCHFT in March 2019 as an HR and recruitment team member and became Voluntary Service Manager in December 2021. Claire brings with her years of experience working with volunteers across various not-for-profit organisations. At KCHFT, she supports and manages our volunteers. If you have any questions on becoming a volunteer or want any advice about volunteering, contact Claire.

Theodora Parisi, Participation and Involvement Administrator

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