How On Ward Services can make a difference
Patients who don’t have many visitors during a stay in hospital often feel very isolated, lonely and fed up.
By volunteering your talents and skills to help on a hospital ward, you can make someone’s stay a little easier and help them return home sooner and stronger, reducing the chances of re-admission.
Bed rest can accelerate muscle loss and increase feelings of loneliness and anxiety, so it’s important that patients stay active both physically and mentally.
As a volunteer in a hospital ward, you can help in a number of ways:
- Leading chair-based interactive exercise sessions using music, balls and games
- Keeping minds active by reading, chatting and playing games
- Preparing patients for going home
- Supporting and encouraging patients to eat and drink well
- Providing companionship outside visiting hours
Simply being there for someone to distract them from hospital life and even make them smile, can be a huge help. As a volunteer in hospital wards you’ll also help to take some of the pressure off the ward staff and be part of the NHS team.
It’s not just about the patients themselves, you can provide reassurance and comfort for patients’ families and friends too. Knowing that someone is spending time with their loved ones through the day can be a welcome weight off their minds.
You’ll also get to know how the wards operate, what the patients like and don’t like, and even the needs and wishes of their families.
On Ward Services can happen any day of the week but weekends are especially helpful for patients without regular visitors. You can also help by becoming a hospital trolley volunteer.
Find out more about what you can expect