Volunteering experiences

Pre Covid I was volunteering at my local hospital and was based in the Cardiology ward. Going around with the tea trolley and chatting to patients. People were so grateful to have someone to chat to as some patients didn’t receive any visitors at all for various reasons. That all stopped when Covid began for obvious reasons. They are now asking for volunteers to return so I intend returning soon but they aren’t allowing Ward volunteers at the moment so I’ll probably be a Pharmacy runner - delivering medicines to the Wards from the Pharmacy or offering patient support to patients in A&E. When watching real life hospital programmes, it always breaks my heart when old folk or anyone for that matter arrive in A&E and they have no-one to support them.
I was also asked if I’d be interested in volunteering in Paediatrics giving support to the parents but I declined that as I’d be in tears over poorly children so didn’t think I’d be a lot if support.

I started volunteering when the Daily Mail started a media campaign for recruiting volunteers. I think they were inundated which made the process quite long and arduous but I stuck at it as it was something I’d been wanting to do for a while but had never really got round to finding out how to volunteer. They are still looking for volunteers and will welcome you with open arms. This is the website i went through if you’re interested helpforce.community/

many years ago i was a volunteer in a mental hospital, when i say mental it was people who had never really fitted into society, i then went to a club that was on two nights a week for adults with downs syndrome, i loved both of these places, the last place i was in was the salvation army, i did say from the start i did not want to work on the shop floor, i was in the back pricing and steaming clothes. you should find out if there is a volunteer group that sorts volunteers for different places, that is how i found my first two places, it does not have to be charity shops, try looking on google for your local area and see what is there, i hope you find something you enjoy.

Thank you for all your comments. It made interesting reading. I will look into some volunteering options and see what happens next!