Weekend Drop Volunteer Roles

Line manager: Senior Clinical Administrator

Location: Across Croydon, Bromley, Lewisham, Lambeth, Southwark

DBS Level: Enhanced

Age: 18+

Why we need your help

St Christopher’s Community Palliative Care Team provides skilled and compassionate care to patients with any life limiting illness within their homes or place or residence. The team consists of nurses, doctors, heath care assistants, social workers, occupational therapists, complementary therapists and physiotherapists.

We need a team of volunteers, who are comfortable with driving, to support us with collections and deliveries. Volunteers will need to agree to be part of a WhatsApp group for volunteer drivers. Staff will message this group if they need help with a delivery or collection to see if anyone is available to help. If you are available and willing to help with that call for help then the nurse/doctor will talk to you and make all the necessary arrangements.

What specific activities will you in involved in?

· Driving to the home of a current patient or a recently deceased patient and picking up any medical equipment which belongs to St Christopher’s such as Syringe Drivers and bringing them back to St Christopher’s

· Dropping off medication to patients - directly from the team at St Christopher’s or picking up prescriptions from a chemist first.

· Dropping off other resources such as ‘Just In Case’ boxes to patients.

· There may be some simple admin tasks to complete in between collection and delivery requests for those volunteering at weekends

What you can gain from volunteering in this role

• Join an enthusiastic team, meet new people and get more involved in your local community

• Use and develop your skills, enhancing your CV if that is important to you

• Know you are helping dying people in your local community have access to care and support, whenever and wherever they need it.

Training and support provided

• Specific training for the role from a member of staff

• A half day induction for all new staff and volunteers which includes all mandatory training

• Support from the Volunteering team including weekly e-newsletter

• Volunteer handbook and volunteer workbook

• Regular updates and training through MyImpact

What we are looking for

• You must be 18 years old or over to do this role

• Confident in using initiative and undertaking the role without a great deal of direction but also recognising when to ask for help or seek support

• Compassionate listener and clear communicator

• Emotional resilience in the face of the difficult circumstances that can affect people at the end of life

• Ability to respect others’ differences and choices

• Ability to follow our policies and procedures to keep you, patients and families and staff safe

• Ability to maintain professional boundaries and confidentiality.

• Ability to represent St Christopher’s and our values positively

• Willingness to learn, adapt and embrace change when needed

• Ability to follow our policies and procedures to keep you, our staff, our patients and their families safe

Anything else you need to know

• You must provide evidence of a full and clean driver’s license, appropriate car insurance and have access to your own car

• There is a short settling in period to see if the role is right for you

• This role will require pre-volunteering checks, which may include a DBS Check. Having a criminal conviction will not necessarily prevent you from volunteering with us. We assess each situation on an individual basis

• At St Christopher’s we believe that no volunteer should be out of pocket because of their volunteering. The reimbursement of reasonable out of pocket expenses incurred whilst volunteering will help ensure volunteering is accessible to all.

Commitment to volunteering

Signing up to be a volunteer with St Christopher’s Hospice is a big commitment and requires lots of training and support from the organisation. With this in mind, ideally you would be able to volunteer with us for a minimum of a year. We would also ask that you to inform your manager if you are unable to attend your shift with as much notice as possible.

Equality and diversity

St Christopher’s recognises the qualities and strengths that a diverse group of volunteers bring to the organisation and we therefore particularly welcome applications from underrepresented groups within the local communities and from a range of different cultures and backgrounds.