From driving patients to hospital to offering bedside emotional support, our volunteers make a huge difference to our staff, patients and visitors.
We welcome applications for volunteering from across our community and know that volunteers bring a diversity of experience, background, skill, age and outlooks which add more value to our Trust’s services.
“Volunteering has been a lifeline for me and in the process I’m helping patients by providing support, whether it be making a cup of tea or having a friendly chat.”
What do volunteers do?
Volunteering with the NHS video
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I think what brings me in every day is the fact
that I get quite a lot of it personally. In it
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simplest sense it’s being as nice and as helpful
to all visitors and patients as you possibly can
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be. We will get people asking us to
collect samples to take to pathology,
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it could be that they’ve got a patient needs
transporting from main reception. You do walk a
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lot but it’s lovely. We have drivers in North
Tees who take patients home that have been
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in hospital for a while and need a lift
back to their their homes. Very enjoyable,
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I absolutely love doing it. You meet all sorts
of people, lots of people with different stories,
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different lives and you get to share a bit of
that. With the home but not alone, we involve
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people that are getting discharged that are
going home to no one. I can put a support package
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in place for them, I can get them a volunteer
driver, I can get them a food parcel, I can get
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them clothes if they need it and then I ring them
every 48 hours just to make sure that the doing
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okay. And the call really cheers me up because
I’ve made them happy, I’ve made their day just
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by ringing in them. Hospital radio presents music
rather than just plays music. Been here 40 years,
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it’s good fun. I started to volunteer for lots of
reasons, one my drive for help. Yeah, the time I
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chat with the patients, I think that’s the most
interesting part of my voluntary activities.
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There’s a lot of praise, isn’t there? There’s
some really, really excellent volunteers that
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do come in here that spend a lot of time
with the patients. They talk about community
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services as well and play games with them,
make them cups of tea, make sure they’ve got
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refreshments. The volunteers are really worth
their weight in gold. Talking to people, helping
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people, it does inspire me. It inspires me to be
a better person than what I was yesterday and the
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stories they tell are absolutely amazing. Some of
the patients and visitors have a five minute chat
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with you and I think that’s nice, both ways, and
I enjoy that as well. I enjoy the company, I enjoy
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working with people. The people are lovely, aren’t
you? It gets you out, you meet people and it does,
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it gives you a wonderful feeling to actually help
others so I go home quite often and sit and smile.
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I’m making a difference. Yeah.
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I worked in a call centre for 19 years
and I was only here a week and I had
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more pleasure in that week than what I did
in 19 years of working in a call centre.
Our volunteering roles are varied, interesting and rewarding. Our volunteers help with a wide range of tasks including:
- Meeting and greeting patients and visitors
- Driving patients to and from hospital
- Supporting patients at the point of discharge who are at risk of loneliness and isolation
- Befriending, talking and listening to patients
- Supporting patients during mealtimes
- Recreational activities, such as reading and playing games
- Offering emotional support to patients having a difficult time
- Delivering medication and aids to patients
- Administrative support
We also have volunteer opportunities with external organisations that are based in our hospitals, including:
- Royal Voluntary Service
- League of Friends
- Radio Stitch
- Book base
Who can volunteer?
As long as you’re older than 16 years old, anyone can volunteer with us.
We welcome volunteers of all backgrounds, experiences, outlooks and skills to benefit our patients. You simply need to be a people person.
There is no upper age limit, however you must be physically able to fulfil the duties of the role you’ve chosen.
Our hospitals are based in Stockton-on-Tees and Hartlepool so please make sure you can safely get to and from our Trust.
The hours and role can be adapted to fit around your life and interests. Some of our volunteers are gaining valuable work experience for their future careers, while others would simply like to fill their spare time by chatting to our patients.
If you’re considering volunteering, we ask that you make a commitment of six months.
Volunteer to Career for the Armed Forces community
We’re working with Helpforce, a national charity and other North East NHS trusts to create a volunteer to career pathway for retired armed forces personnel and/or their family members.
The Volunteer to Career programme will provide an opportunity to gain greater insight into roles within the NHS, develop skills and experience and gain support with job applications and interviews.
To find out further information about this programme, please contact the volunteer service team on 01642 383933.
How to apply
If you think a volunteer role at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust is right for you, please contact our volunteer support team. We will contact you with a link to apply when we open an advert to recruit.
They will walk you through the application process and are available to answer any questions you might have.
Once you have applied, we will complete a disclosure and barring process (DBS), if needed, which checks criminal records. Please do not be put off as not all convictions prevent you from volunteering with us.
We aim to process your application within four to six weeks. We are, however, reliant on other agencies for some of the recruitment checks (for example, DBS) and therefore it may take longer.
Once your application has been processed, we will invite you in for an informal interview. This is a get together with other applicants, followed by a one-to-one discussion about what roles you may be interested in, how we can support and is an opportunity to get to know you.
What do our volunteers tell us?
“Being in hospital can be very lonely and distressing for patients so I feel privileged to spend time with patients, put a smile on their faces, and improve their hospital stay in whatever way I can.”
“I volunteer because I want to support the over-stretched NHS. I am so proud to make even a small difference to the patients’ stay in hospital and hopefully brighten the days of both patients and clinical staff.”
“I really enjoy volunteering as it enables me to help the patients who need it the most. I have gained valuable insight into careers within the NHS, helping to prepare me for my future career in medicine.”
