Volunteering with the NHS is an excellent opportunity to help your own community. It is a rewarding way to dedicate your time to a cause you care about.
Volunteering gives you a sense of satisfaction gained from helping others. You can use your own life or work experience and knowledge to support patients and our staff. You will also meet new people, learn lots of different skills yourself and gain experience of what it would be like to work in the NHS. All of this can boost your own self-esteem and wellbeing as you give back to others.
We support our volunteers so they can play a meaningful and valuable role. Whatever your reason for wanting to volunteer we’d love to hear from you.
Volunteering roles
We have a range of volunteering opportunities for you to get involved in, for example:
- Helping to keep the gardens tidy as a gardening volunteer
- Be the welcoming face for visitors as a meet and greet volunteer at the main entrance
- Support staff and patients in our Emergency Departments and wards, helping to improve the patient’s experience at a difficult time for them
- Record valuable feedback from discharged patients
- Is your pet registered as a therapy pet? Our patients and staff would love to meet you (note: pets must be registered by an appropriate association such as the PAT organisation/Therapy Dogs Nationwide)
- Maybe you can support the Chaplaincy team in providing spiritual, religious and pastoral care to patients, relatives and staff within the hospitals
- Our partners in hospital radio and Friends shop charities, are always looking for new volunteers to support them and we can get you in touch with them for an initial chat
Please note: Role opportunities at any given time are based on the needs of the hospital teams and therefore can change on a regular basis.
Who can volunteer
Anyone aged 17 (but in their 18th year) and over can volunteer whatever their background, ability or experience – everybody has something to share or contribute.
We ask that volunteers are enthusiastic, positive, resilient, display empathy, are good listeners and observant. Volunteering is not a short-term commitment, and we ask all volunteers to attend on a regular basis, ideally at least one session per week for a minimum of six months. This ensures that we can create long-lasting and meaningful volunteer roles, ones that truly support our patients and more importantly our staff.
Please note: Volunteering is not the same as work experience. Should you wish to apply for work experience and need further information, please contact our Work Experience team: esh-tr.workexperience@nhs.net
As a volunteer you will not shadow clinicians or participate in clinical activities. Volunteering is not proof of work placement or support sponsorship applications. We can not help you apply for jobs but we’re happy to offer you a reference once you’ve volunteered for at least six months in the Trust on a regular basis.
Volunteer recruitment
Our Voluntary Service team support our hospitals: Bexhill Hospital, Conquest Hospital, Eastbourne DGH and Rye, Winchelsea and District Memorial Hospital.
Initially we ask you to complete our enquiry form and then we meet you in person at one of our recruitment sessions, held at regular intervals between Conquest Hospital and Eastbourne DGH.
This session provides the opportunity:
- to ask any questions
- talk through the roles available
- understand the recruitment process
If you would like to be part of our volunteering team, we’d love to hear from you.
