Volunteering

The NIHR Public Research Champions is a national initiative that is hosted and led by individual NHS trusts for public volunteers to support and promote health and social care research. Members are expected to join the monthly group meetings but can choose which or how many activities to get involved in.

This includes reviewing participant materials such as information sheets and consent forms, attending and/or facilitating workshops and presentations as well as being an active part of research and evaluation projects including recruiting and interviewing participants.

We are recruiting for research champions in Tower Hamlets London, Dover and Folkestone until March 2023.

Please see our Research champion poster for details on how to get involved.

Do you have a therapy animal that you have registered with the national pets as therapy charity, or you think they have what it takes to make a good therapy animal?

Our organisation is registered with Pets as Therapy and we are always looking for individuals to come support our trust in our hospitals and at our services across Kent.

If you would like to learn more about registering you can visit Pets As Therapy.

To be a volunteer with our trust we do ask that you are registered with Pets as Therapy and with us as a volunteer. Please get in touch to see if we have a service you can volunteer with in the first instance.

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.

This role is an exciting opportunity to support the podiatry and physiotherapy (musculoskeletal) services in the trust. The tasks will mainly involve making calls to those on short waiting lists to provide assurance, updates and give out information on what they can be doing to support their wellbeing whilst they wait, for example basic exercises. In addition, the volunteer will have the opportunity to have patient contact through meeting and greeting and feedback on behalf of the patient to services pre and post discharge. These conversations are vital to helping improve the experience of our patients. This is an ideal opportunity for someone who enjoys interacting with people and either wants to make a difference and/or gain NHS experience.

A list of possible duties is below but we would ask that you are flexible to meet the changing demands of the role:

• meet and greeting patients to support reception staff
• undertake post discharge surveys and/or wellbeing calls
• general administrative support to the clinical team
• completing waitlist phone calls to support with assurance and providing resources with information (for example on exercises)
• liaise with staff to bring to their attention if patients have questions relating to medication or follow up appointments.

Hours are two hour shifts anytime between Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Locations are Herne Bay, Folkestone, Margate, and Maidstone (Coxheath).

Our hospitals in west Kent require volunteer admin support particularly through the winter months. This can include answering the phone and door, photocopying, filing, organising stock and helping the ward clerks.

Sites where volunteers are needed include:

• Edenbridge and District War Memorial Hospital, Mill Hill, Edenbridge TN8 5DA
• Hawkhurst Community Hospital, High Street, Hawkhurst TN18 4PU
• Tonbridge Cottage Hospital, Vauxhall Lane, Marden, Tonbridge TN11 0NE.

If you would like more information on this opportunity or wish to apply please get in touch. The hours are flexible between 2-6 hours a week between Monday to Sunday, 8am to 4pm.

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.

In addition to the experience and rewarding role in a community hospital we also provide training on carers awareness. This role is there to support our patients and this includes our volunteers engaging with carers and family members too!

This is an exciting opportunity to support in our community hospitals with the benefit of NHS training and engagement. We have opportunities at the following sites: Deal, Westview (Tenterden), Whitstable, Tonbridge, Sevenoaks, Herne Bay, Faversham, Hawkhurst and Edenbridge.

Please contact us if you want to learn more or apply.

Can you or someone you know spare some time to support our services with phone surveys? You will get the opportunity to chat with patients and gain valuable insight into their experiences within our trust. Our surveys impact greatly on how we make improvements to our services, and ultimately makes a significant positive impact on the lives of our patients. Those who are at the heart of what we do.

If you can spare a few hours a week and like the idea of undertaking phone surveys please get in touch. You will be given training and support from services and current volunteers.

The following services require a patient experience volunteer:
Community Rehabilitation Services, MSK Physiotherapy, Diabetes, Epilepsy and Lymphoedema.

Locations where this role is required include Herne Bay, Ashford, Folkestone, Sevenoaks and Deal.

Hours are anytime Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

Do you have a couple of hours to spare a week to help adult clinical services? The team would like a volunteer to support with putting together packs that are vital to the patients. This role would also involve archiving and supporting with general admin support (in a voluntary capacity). Great for someone who wants NHS experience or would like to give something back and help out a fantastic team.

We are looking for help anytime Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm in Deal, Dover, Westcliffe or Hythe.