Ward Assistant volunteer -St Charles Hospital
St Charles Hospital Mental Health service in Kensington & Chelsea provides a safe and therapeutic environment for people with acute mental health problems. The Mental Health Service comprises four adult inpatient wards and two Psychiatric Intensive Care Units. They cater for adults who are suffering an acute phase of a serious mental illness, suspected to have an acute mental illness, or a relapse of long term mental illnesses.
About the role
You will assist and support staff on the ward to meet the needs of patients, enabling ward staff more time to carry out other clinical duties. Duties are really varied, and include chatting to patients, helping running activities with the activity coordinator, support at meal times, and running errands to other departments between others.
We ask that you commit for at least 4 hours per week anytime, Monday to Sunday from 9am to 8pm
Address: St Charles Hospital, Exmoor St, London W10 6DZ
Key Tasks
Tasks are really varied, involving direct patient contact and other tasks needed at the ward:
- Provide company and support to patients who may have no visitors or family
- Assisting patients to get in touch digitally with family members and friends
- Support activities in the ward
- Supporting catering staff to serve meals
- Provide general assistance as needed such as answering the ward door, answering phones, passing messages
- Basic admin such as, photocopying, filing and printing labels
- Helping the Housekeeping teams to keep areas clean, organised and assist with stock levels
- Restocking supplies, putting away pharmacy stocks and stores deliveries – monitoring supply levels
- Running errands to other departments or the community
- Other reasonable tasks that you feel confident about and have been trained for
Key Skills and Experience
- Reliability: to be someone we can rely on - consistent and dependable
- Resilience: you will volunteer in a hospital setting with a range of people at different stages of their rehabilitation
- Empathetic, compassionate, patient, tolerant and considerate
- Initiative to identify tasks and support staff and patients
- Adaptable and willing to learn
- Good conversational and listening skills with a caring nature
- A team player, being helpful, communicative, open, respectful and honest
- The ability to work independently whilst staying within the role’s boundaries, recognising what should and shouldn’t be done, when to seek advice or report concerns
- Let us know if you can speak other languages – as our patients come from a diverse community and some don’t speak English as their first language
What is in there for you?
- The satisfaction of helping people to have a more enjoyable time whilst being hospitalised
- The opportunity to develop new skills and learn in an hospital setting
- The opportunity to help the NHS in a time of growing pressure
- Full support and a range of relevant training, including Confidentiality, Safeguarding and Equality and Diversity
- Local Trust induction and orientation
- A reference for future volunteering or employment, after 6 months
- Following our expenses policy, reimbursement of agreed expenses
What the role is NOT
You are not expected to be involved in any of the following:
- No direct care or assistance for patient’s daily clinical activities, including personal or intimate nature care
- Moving and handling activities –of patients or heavy items/ equipment.
- Access to any medical and nursing records, or patient case notes
- Assist the patient with any form of medication
- No involvement in admission or discharge procedures
- No involvement in aggressive incidents.
- No pushing patients in wheelchairs unless wheelchair training has been completed
- Escorting patients within hospital grounds or out of the hospital grounds, unless Ward Manager directs/ authorises
- Assisting as an escort to another hospital
- No answering enquiries about patients; whether on the phone or face to face. Always seek/refer to a member of staff
- No cleaning up of bodily fluids