NHS Volunteering News - Winter 2019/20 - NHS Lothian
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NHS Volunteering News
Winter 2019/20
In October 2019 we were delighted to say thank you
to volunteers at our celebration and thank you event.
We hope the 55 volunteers who attended had as
much fun and cake as the Voluntary Services Team
did.
We were delighted that Alex McMahon, Executive
Director of Nursing, Midwifery & Allied Health
Professionals and Fiona Ireland, Deputy Director for
Corporate Nursing & Business Support, were able to
give out certificates to mark the long service of
volunteers.
NHS Lothian has some very dedicated volunteers
whose commitment to volunteering spans many
years. There are currently 130 volunteers who have
been volunteering for 5 years or more, including 52
volunteers who have been volunteering for 10 years,
and one extraordinary volunteer who has been
volunteering for 31 years.
During national Volunteers Week 1st –7th June 2020—we will be holding several Thank You and celebration events
to show our appreciation of the hard work and commitment of all of nearly 488 volunteers. More details of these
events will be in the spring edition of NHS Volunteering News.
Until then, thank you for all you your support, hard work and commitment from all at NHS Lothian.
Inside this edition
Meet the Voluntary Services Team
What is new in NHS Volunteering
Celebration Event
Dates for your diary
Meet the Voluntary Services Team
It has been an exciting time in the Voluntary Denise says: “The best part of my job is the variety;
Services Team, as the team has grown significantly no two days are the same, and meeting lots of
in the last year. We have welcomed several new interesting people who are passionate about
members of staff who bring a range of skills and volunteering.”
experience that complement those already in the
Diane Lockhart is our longest serving Voluntary
team. New staff members Kirsten Law, Amy Innes,
Services Manager. She has been recruiting and
Claire Garton and Jane Greenacre join established supporting volunteers at NHS Lothian for 17 years.
team members Diane Lockhart, Denise Claxton, Di
Logan and Laura Wark. Diane is the point of contact for NHS staff and
Volunteers based at the Western General Hospital,
Denise Claxton is the Voluntary Services Manager Royal Victoria Buildings and the Royal Infirmary.
for Children’s Services. Denise has been in post for
15 years, working Tuesday to Thursday, based at Diane says: “I really enjoy my job. I enjoy meeting
the Royal Hospital for Sick Children. and supporting volunteers every day.”
Denise is involved in the recruitment of volunteers Amy Innes and Kirsten Law joined the team in June
and has recently started a running group and face- 2019, both taking on new posts developed in
to-face training sessions for volunteers, which response to ’Volunteering Well - NHS Lothian
replace online training modules of Learnpo. Denise Volunteer Strategy.’
also provides support to the volunteers, organises Amy is Third Sector Voluntary Services Manager
reviews, and is planning to host more get together’s and is currently based at the Royal Hospital for Sick
in 2020 to bring volunteers who support NHS Children but works across all of NHS Lothian’s Acute
Children and Young People’s Services together. and Community sites.
Denise is the point of contact for NHS staff based at Amy’s role involves linking in with all the third
the RHSC and Children’s Services and supports the sector organisations who have volunteers providing
development of new volunteering roles. support and services to patients at NHS Lothian
sites. Amy is responsible for ensuring contracts are to-face training, allowing potential volunteers to
signed and in place, that all third sector volunteers discuss key issues in groups.
have a high quality volunteering experience and Jane says: “Moving forward, I am looking forward to
that we have safe, effective, quality volunteering exploring how we more effectively support
services delivered by partners that meet the needs volunteers. I would like to try more regular get
of our patients, families and staff. together’s so volunteers can meet each other and
Kirsten Law is the Youth Voluntary Services share experiences and give the team feedback. I
Manager and is responsible for creating would also like to think about how we celebrate the
programmes for young people aged 14 – 25 to get outstanding commitment of our volunteers and the
involved in volunteering. The programmes are difference they make.”
designed for those young people who might need a Di Logan joined the team in January 2019 as Project
little more support or confidence building before Support Officer. Di deals with initial enquiries from
they start. potential volunteers, on the telephone and by
Kirsten will be running the following 4 programmes: email. She schedules interviews, books people into
training sessions, orders supplies and generally
- Summer placement
keeps the cogs turning.
- Term-time placement
- Community volunteering for 14 – 16 year olds
Other ways to get involved
- Youth Volunteer Ambassadors.
NHS Lothian would like to give volunteers the
Kirsten says: “Young people will be given extra opportunity to influence how our services are run.
support throughout the application process all the
way to starting volunteering. We want to make sure You can join our “Get Involved” network and
young people are rewarded for their volunteering, receive invitations to events, groups, meetings and
so we ensure that they can access Saltire Awards other opportunities to influence how our services
and Duke of Edinburgh. If you would like to learn develop and operate.
more then please do get in touch.” The network consists of members of the public and
Claire Garton is the newest member of the team, community representatives who have an interest in
joining us on the 9th December 2019. Claire is NHS Lothian’s services and is part of our work to
based at St John’s Hospital and is the point of ensure that the voice of those who use our services
contact for staff and volunteers in West Lothian. is at the heart of what we do.
We have recently recruited and provided face-to-
You don’t need any special knowledge or expertise
face training for 14 new volunteers, so Claire’s first
– the fact that you already volunteer with us means
tasks in post will be helping those volunteers settle
you will have valuable insights that could help
into their new roles and meeting the dedicated
when it comes to service change and improvement.
volunteer team who are already supporting patients
and visitors in West Lothian. As a member of the Network, you will receive
emails from time to time providing details of
Jane Greenacre joined NHS Lothian in the newly
specific opportunities to influence. You only
created role of Head of Volunteering in August
respond to those invitations you are interested in.
2019. Jane will be leading the implementation of
You can choose to stop receiving the emails at any
‘Volunteering Well - NHS Lothian Volunteering
time.
Strategy 2018-2023 ‘and supporting the Voluntary
Services Manager team. If you would like to sign up, please send an email to
During her first few months, Jane has been get.involved@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk giving your
reviewing procedures and gathering feedback from name and local authority area, for opportunities
volunteers . This has led to some changes to that are location specific.
streamline the recruitment process so that the time
of initial enquiry to placement is quicker for
potential volunteers and to the introduction of face-
Spotlight
Hospital Guides at St John’s Hospital
Flo is one of our dedicated team of
volunteers. Flo has been volunteering
with NHS Lothian for 15 year and tells
us she loves every minute: “I am a
people person and this is a great way to
meet people while helping.”
Flo is originally from Fraserburgh, but
spent 17 years living, working and
raising a family in California after
moving there when she was 18. During
her time in America, Flo’s talent for
singing was spotted and she took
singing lessons, going on to win
prestigious auditions to become an opera singer. When she returned to Scotland with family, Flo found
work as a trainer with Sky in Livingston, a role she really enjoyed.
Upon retiring, Flo knew she wanted to keep active and began volunteering at St John’s Hospital. She
initially made the large commitment to do two full days a week, taking on a number of different roles,
including working in the RVS cafe, arranging flowers on a ward, working in the Health Information
Centre, providing Therapeutic massage with the British Red Cross and reception work in the MAU.
Alongside all these varied roles, Flo has been a Hospital Guide in the main reception at St John’s Hospital,
welcoming patients and visitors and making sure they find their way to where they need to be. This is the
role Flo continues to do 3 hours a week. Flo loves to meet people and says: “People coming in can be
quite nervous so it is great to be there to put them at their ease with a smile and an offer of help’. ‘ I
don’t do it for this reason but it is nice when people say thanks you and you know you have helped.”
Flo and her Volunteer Hospital Guide colleagues work closely with the Clerical Officers who are based in
the reception area. Anne, Clerical Officer, said: “If it weren’t for the Volunteers it would take much longer
for us to do our jobs as they greet people and answer their questions, so we are interrupted much
less.’ Anne also said: ‘ All the volunteers are lovely, which helps.”
When Flo is not volunteering she spends time listening to music, reading, and travelling. Flo says:
“Volunteering is good for me. It gives me a reason to get up and get going in the morning. It gets me out
of the house.”
Breast Feeding Buddies
The National Childbirth Trust (NCT) have been working closely with NHS Lothian and recently started to offer one-to-one
volunteer Breastfeeding Peer Support to families within the neonatal unit whose babies are receiving any breast milk (including
donor milk) by any means.
Neonatal Staff value the contribution of peer supporter volunteers who can give additional time to a mum supporting her on
her own breastfeeding journey. The peers have all breastfed their own children and use their further developed listening skills
to be alongside a mum at this challenging time.
As a partner of NHS Lothian, NCT are also the first organisation to go through our new third sector volunteering due diligence
and contracting process with Third Sector Voluntary Services Manager, Amy Innes, and we look forward to the valuable
contribution their volunteers will make in supporting our patients, families and staff.
Youth Volunteering Ambassadors
Young Volunteers Supporting Young Volunteers
Increasing the number of young people
volunteering with NHS Lothian is an amazing
opportunity to give young people from all
backgrounds opportunities to gain life skills
and work experience. The inter-
generational aspect of the work, especially
when young volunteers will be supporting
older patients, provides fantastic
opportunities to improve understanding and
respect between the generations.
To support NHS Lothian’s exciting new youth
volunteering programme, Kirsten Law
(Youth Voluntary Services Manager) has
recruited and trained a group of Youth
Ambassadors. The Youth Ambassadors will
help develop the youth volunteering
programme, ensuring that all aspects of the
programme are appropriate and supportive
to younger volunteers.
The Youth Ambassadors will also support the recruitment and training of potential volunteers
participating on one of the three hospital placement programmes which will run annually. Next year the
Youth Ambassadors will also participate in the writing and deliver of health education programmes for
young people.
In December 2019, 15 volunteers aged between 16 and 23 participated in a selection event to become
NHS Lothian’s first Youth Volunteering Ambassadors. Eight went on to participate in an intensive
weekend of training held at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, during which they planned the recruitment
and selection events for the youth volunteering programme and tested training materials.
In January 2020 the Youth Ambassadors will co-facilitate training with Kirsten. The training, which will
take place over 4 evenings, will induct 20
new young volunteers who have each
made a commitment to volunteer for 2
hours a week for at least 6 months.
To find out more about the Youth
Ambassadors or Youth Volunteer
Programmes, contact Kirsten Law via
Kirsten.Law@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk.
NHS Lothian is grateful to The Pears
Foundation for supporting this work.
At our Volunteer Celebration event in October we asked volunteers: “What do you like
most about volunteering ? And what would improve the volunteering experience?”
Giving people time Getting to know the patients.
that is not medical. Wanted to give Knowing the difference I
something back to the was making to the quality of
community.
care they received was
rewarding.
Giving back to the
wonderful NHS for the I’ve never worked
before, so it is building
marvellous work with my confidence and
my two kids. self-esteem. Learn pro – is too intense,
too much/long, puts people
To give back after off and needs changed.
being in that
Hospital. Ambassadors
— it is not easy to
start volunteering.
Uniforms
We will be using this feedback and the feedback from the surveys we sent to all NHS Lothian volunteers to shape the service
moving forward. In January we will be forming a volunteering reference group who, alongside the Youth Ambassadors,
(pictured overleaf) will be consulted on changes and developments to ensure the voice of volunteers is heard as we plan and
implement ‘Volunteering Well’ - NHS Lothian Volunteering Strategy 2018 –2023.
We have already made some changes, stream-lining our recruitment process to make it less complicated and faster for
volunteers to get started while still ensuring that both volunteers and patients are safe. We have also introduced a group
induction programme to replace the unpopular electronic learning programme. Some of our first volunteers to complete the
induction programme are pictured below.
Potential volunteers
participating in the
training are reporting
feeling more confident
and more informed.
Some have reported
that it helped them
consider things they
would not have
otherwise. All have
said how much they
enjoyed meeting other
potential volunteers
and getting to know
the Voluntary Services
Managers facilitating
the training.
Volunteers who completed a two day induction course at Waverley Gate in November, learning about confidentiality,
Boundaries, fire safety, infection control and self care. These volunteers will go on to a wide range of roles including Welcomes
Guides at East Lothian Community Hospital, Bedtime Story readers at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Activity Volunteers
at Calareidh and much more.
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