We have been asked to expand the Ward Trolley Service, Mealtime Companion and Patient Visiting Services. We also need to fill vacancies in the rotas for some of our other services which occur from time to time.

Last year The Friends of St Cross delivered a record level of volunteer support for the great team at the Hospital of St Cross and we have agreed to run a second round of the Ward Trolley Service and need a further 15 volunteers to populate the new rota. The trolley visits all of the wards and many other departments offering patients and staff the opportunity to buy snacks and papers without the need to walk to the Friends Tea Bar in Out Patients or the Poplar Place restaurant.

Our Mealtime Companion service needs 10 more volunteers who would like to provide patients with assistance with eating their food or just need a little bit of encouragement! Not all patients have relatives or friends that are available to give this support. Our team of volunteers help on several of the wards at St Cross.

Our Patient Visitors offer companionship for patients during their stay in hospital. This can be a very worrying time for patients, they may feel isolated as they are away from home and out of their normal routine. To try and help with this, our volunteers will go onto designated wards and talk to patients who have confirmed that they would like a non-clinical listening ear. The team now includes 2 Therapy Dogs (and their owners!) and we would like to recruit 10 more volunteers for this popular service.

Both the Mealtime Companion and Patient Visiting services are delivered every day of the week whereas the Ward Trolley Service currently runs from Monday to Friday. Training is provided for all of our services which are supported by a team of Service Co-ordinators.

Doug Jones Chair of the Friends said "We currently have over 170 volunteers who delivered an average of 10 hours per month. Their support is widely appreciated by patients and staff at The Hospital of St Cross. So, if you think you'd be able to help us to help St Cross with the gift of time in a voluntary role we look forward to hearing from you".

You can find out more about the services you could deliver by looking at the “For Volunteers” page of this website where you can also download our application pack.