Become a volunteer

Volunteers and our Arts programme play an integral role in supporting our Trust vision.

We are committed to involving volunteers safely, responsibly and effectively and to celebrating the amazing contribution our volunteers make.

We also strive to involve a diverse range of volunteers and to offer a them a variety of roles that reflect the needs of our organisation, while also providing opportunities for volunteers to share and develop a range of skills, knowledge, and experience.

Our volunteers are based at University Hospital Lewisham and Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich.

Before you apply to become a volunteer, please read these: frequently asked questions [docx] 151KB which you may find useful.

 

Who can volunteer?

The minimum age to volunteer is 16. To volunteer you need to be able to display some key personal qualities such as empathy and the ability to listen and observe. You also need to be reliable, a self-starter, and show initiative and attention to detail.

We do not offer any short-term volunteering opportunities. We ask you to commit to at least two hours of your time a week for at least six months, so please consider whether you can realistically fit this commitment in with your other responsibilities.

We featured a lot of our fantastic volunteers in our Volunteers' Week 2024 campaign. 

 

 

Why volunteer?

There are lots of reasons why people choose to volunteer with us:

• You enjoy helping others and want to play a role in improving the patient and visitor experience
• You want to give something back to our Trust after you or a family member have been treated here
• You want to contribute to your local community
• You want to use the role to demonstrate your existing skills and further your personal development
• You want to put to good use the skills and experience you’ve gained over your lifetime
• You are thinking about career choices and are thinking of joining the health and social care sector.

Meet some of our fantastic LGT Volunteers, as part of our Volunteers Week 2024 celebrations. 

 

Volunteer roles

These are the main roles that we have available across our sites. Please contact the teams for any information on our full role availability.

Assist our staff with general administrative duties ranging from data entry, filing, answering phones and taking messages to befriending patients who need support during their visit at the hospital. Our admin roles cover all departments within the Trust e.g. our hospital charity, legal department, health and safety and office work.

We are always looking for people to help patients with arts and crafts activities on the wards, as well as volunteer musicians who would like to perform live music to inpatients. You can also support other arts projects on an ad hoc basis, such as installing exhibitions, helping with artwork cataloguing and writing interpretation labels.

Play a crucial role in supporting vulnerable patients in a fast-paced environment. Volunteers provide emotional reassurance and practical support to ensure the best possible patient experience during a stressful time. Arts and craft packs are also supplied to the Paediatric ED to help keep children engaged.

The nutrition and hydration of our patients is one of our most important responsibilities as it is key to aiding recovery. Provide friendly encouragement and company during mealtimes to raise patient morale and ensure they feel supported on the ward. Work alongside staff to support patients to eat and drink and improve their overall experience. We offer training for those volunteers that would be interested in helping to feed patients.

You will be the first point of contact at the hospital. You will meet and greet patients, family members and visitors to the hospital and help make their visit as smooth as possible. As a guide, you will have the opportunity to make someone's first experience of Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust a positive one.

Support patients with signing in, befriending and guiding patients and visitors to different departments. It is the volunteer’s job to be a calming influence, be a good listener and try to be as helpful as possible. 

Assisting the staff in the provision of play and diversionary activities.  Play offers an opportunity for patients and families to interact and socialise, promotes creativity and diverts patients and carers from the stress associated with hospitalisation and treatments.

Assisting staff with non-clinical duties and offering support to patients and relatives while visiting the hospital. This role would suit someone who enjoys interacting with people, who has an interest in administration duties and feels comfortable in a clinical environment.

 

How do I apply to be a volunteer 

To register your interest in becoming a volunteer we need you to set up an account on the My Impact  website/app first.

It won’t take long and it really helps us in lots of ways:

• It gives us a great way to communicate with our volunteers
• It helps us build a picture of your interests and things you want to support us with
• It’s a great way for you to keep a record of the hours you spend volunteering
• By downloading the ‘My Impact’ app to your smartphone or tablet it also means all of your information is in one, easy to access place.

If you need support or have any questions about setting up the account we’re happy to help.