Support at Home Volunteer

Do you have a few hours to spare each week to help support people on their arrival home from hospital? The British Red Cross are looking for Support at Home Volunteers in Lambeth and Southwark. 

Position: Support at Home Volunteer - Lambeth & Southwark

Location: King's College Hospital, London

Commitment: Ideally we are looking for volunteers who can commit to volunteering with us for at least 6 months to 1 year due to the training and induction period and who can commit to 2 hours per week or half a day every 2 weeks between Monday - Friday 9am-5pm. Volunteers should ideally live within 30 minutes’ travel of the hospital. 

Closing Date for Applications: 15th June 2020

Interviews: Telephone interviews for this role are likely to be held on the 24th June 2020

To volunteer for this role, you must be aged 18+, must live in the UK.

The Role

The aim of the Support at Home service is to place the person at the centre of what we do and help them get through a crisis by offering positive encouragement, practical help and emotional support, for a few days or for longer, depending on their needs.

Tasks Included in this Role:

• Visiting the service user on their arrival home from hospital.
• Keeping someone company for a few hours at a time.
• Helping with practical tasks like shopping, collecting prescriptions and light meal preparation.
• Sitting with the service user and relieving the relative or carer of continuous care.
• Keeping paper records of contact and activities undertaken with the service user.

About You

We keep the beneficiary at the heart of what we do, working to understand their needs and the difference we make. You need to have good interpersonal, diplomacy, communication and teamwork skills and full training can be given for any necessary technical requirements. Along with:

• Sensitivity when working with people vulnerable to crisis and an interest in their well-being
• An ability to provide patient, positive encouragement with the aim of helping people to help themselves
• An understanding of the differing physical needs of service users
• Ability to work independently and as an effective member of a team
• Willingness to attend volunteer induction and appropriate training for the role
• Uphold the Fundamental Principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and adhering to the Society's Equal Opportunities Policy

This role requires volunteers to have a DBS / PVG / Access NI check to the appropriate level, this requires an update every three years.

The safety of our staff and volunteers is our priority.  As this is a customer-facing role and due to the current global health pandemic, we are currently unable to accept your application if you are aged 70 or over, if you have underlying health conditions, if you are pregnant, if you are normally advised to have a flu jab or if you live in the same household as anyone in these categories.  We also cannot accept your application if you or someone in your household have received a government letter asking you to shield. This is the current guidance and subject to change in the future.

For more information, please check the Dept of Health and Social Care guidance and/or use the NHS online 111 dedicated Coronavirus service.

After you apply for the role someone from our friendly recruitment team will be in touch with you to arrange an interview. This will be an opportunity for us to find out more about you and for you to find out more about the role. Following this interview if we both agree to continue with recruitment we will invite you to meet the team and attend an induction day where you can find out more about what it is like to be a volunteer for the British Red Cross.

Connecting human kindness with human crisis

You may also have experience in areas such as Volunteering, Volunteer, Covid 19, Coronavirus Volunteer, Support at Home, Home Support, Befriending, Care, Support, Hospital Support.