About the role

What will I be doing?

As a Family Host Volunteer, you will support families on hospital wards where a child is undergoing treatment and a family member(s) is staying on the ward with them.

Some of the main activities of the role include:

• Make hot and cold drinks for family members
• Support parents/carers to use the ward kitchen to heat food
• Support parents/ carers to access facilities offered in other hospital areas
• Spend time playing games / speaking with Children to allow parents/ carers to speak with medical staff and attend commitments off the ward
• Encourage and support family members to complete ‘Friends and Family' surveys
• Support with developing, recommending, cleaning, and creating play resources for the ward 

As a Play Volunteer, you will support children to have fun by playing games, having converdations, and completing arts activities. This role will help children enjoy their time in hospital more as well as keep them distracted whilst waiting.

• Support the Play Specialist to keep patients and their siblings occupied at the bedside using hospital toys and activities.
• Create new activity packs for our patients, including photocopying, cutting out animal shapes and collating activity resources. Help to laminate books and patients' pictures for display.
• Restock the play cupboards within the department to ensure they are fully stocked with toys and activity packs for our patients to use.
• Help to clean down toys after patient use and maintaining tidy play storage cupboards.
• Give out resources to patients at the bedside to our patients and siblings.

What skills will I need?

We’re looking for volunteers who are friendly, caring and passionate about supporting patients and staff at our hospitals. You’ll also find the following skills and qualities are particularly useful in this role:

• A friendly, positive and approachable manner
• Knowledge of the hospital layout or an interest to learn
• Ability to be empathetic, patient and calm in difficult situations if they arise
• Working well within a diverse team
• Ability to follow instructions and be flexible
• Acting on your own initiative within set boundaries
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability to volunteer on your feet for several hours at a time

What support will I get?

This fun and fulfilling volunteer role will give you the opportunity to make a positive impact on our patients during their time in hospital as well as developing your own skills.

At every step we’ll provide lots of support to help you in your volunteer role. You’ll have a member of hospital staff as your main contact as well as extra support from the volunteering team at your hospital. We’ll give you the chance to take part in additional training to further develop your skills and we’ll say thank you for all your fantastic efforts through our volunteering awards and regular newsletter. We’ll also reimburse you for your travel and food and drink costs during your volunteer shift.

How to apply

Before you can start volunteering with us, there are a few important steps.
Take a look at the graphic below to see each stage of your volunteering journey.

One more thing to remember. You’ll need to complete a DBS check to volunteer with us. Click the button below to find all the information you need.

When you’re ready to apply, click the ‘Apply Now’ button below to get started.