Volunteer opportunities supporting the NHS
Katherine, one of our volunteers, speaks about her volunteering experiences and the importance of her role within the Norfolk Community Health and Care (NCH&C).
Her patient feedback volunteer role involves phoning people who have recently been released from hospital and finding out about their experiences of the NHS.
Voluntary Norfolk is running this project to improve the patient and service user experience. With increasing demand on health services, integrating volunteers takes pressure off hospital staff. The feedback that the NHS receives is listened to and most importantly acted upon and as a result the overall service is improved.
Our volunteer, Katherine said:
“I started volunteering as I wanted to contribute my time to a good cause. Telephone work was a great way to start, as I had been shielding throughout the pandemic, and could make the calls from home, and at my leisure, when it suited me. I completed the required training, and have had ongoing support from the Volunteer Co-ordinator team at NCH&C, for any issues that I’m not sure about.
“Sometimes calls are very quick to complete, and other times, it may take a bit longer, especially if someone wants to have a bit of a chat!
“I feel that it is vital work, as it provides feedback to health care professionals about how good or how bad their service is. Without patient feedback, there is no way of knowing how services can be improved in the future.
“I find volunteering a very positive and worthwhile experience.”
If you would like to find out more or volunteer, please click here.
This service is extremely useful for healthcare professionals and as a result we are looking for more people to volunteer to get involved with this really important role. If you could spare an afternoon or morning a week, we’d love to hear from you!
