The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust recognises and values the work of volunteers, whether they are people who work within our services and alongside our staff or as part of our patient and public involvement work. We have approximately 800 volunteers working across both sites and in many different departments, complementing the work of the staff and providing services to patients and visitors.
We are always looking for volunteers who feel that they could spare a few hours each week to join our team.
Some of the opportunities available are:
If you would like to become a volunteer at the Trust, we have a simple recruitment process that you will need to complete. Initially, you will need to complete a Volunteer Application and Equal Opportunities Monitoring form. You can request one of these from the Foundation Trust Office on 01743 261473. The application form asks you to provide the name of two referees who we will contact to provide us with their opinions on aspects of your character including honesty and trustworthiness, time keeping etc...... Once we have received these references, we will ask you to complete a CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) form and an occupational health screening form - these forms are essential and are also completed by all Trust employees as well as volunteers.
When all of these forms and checks are returned and clearance has been given, we will arrange a convenient time for you to start your volunteering. The recruitment process may feel as if it takes a long time but we have to follow this process to make sure that the Trust complies with current legislation. CRB checks take around 6 to 8 weeks to return so you can expect the whole volunteer recruitment process to take up to 12 weeks.
Volunteer training - when you start volunteering at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, we will ask you to book a place on a Mandatory Training session. This is a half-day session (9am - 12.30pm) and is designed to make sure that you are safe in your volunteering environment. We will train you in safe moving and handling, fire safety, food safety, infection prevention and control, information governance and protection of vulnerable adults. This training must be undertaken within 3 moths of starting a voluntary placement and then again every 3 years. If volunteers do not attend this training, the volunteer placement will end.
We like to make sure that our volunteers are kept informed of the work of the Trust and we send all our volunteers a copy of Volunteer News, a newsletter for volunteers, every 3 months.
Saying "thank you" to our volunteers - in recognition of the excellent work our volunteers do, we hold an annual "thank you" tea party that all volunteers are invited to. We hold one tea party at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and one at the Princess Royal Hospital. Details of these events are advertised in Volunteer News.
If you have any suggestions of volunteer roles that you feel would be useful within our hospitals, please get in touch with us and give us your ideas.
Volunteer News
As a volunteer, you will automatically receive a copy of Volunteer News. This will be published every three months. If you're thinking of becoming a volunteer, here a some recent issues of Volunteer News - we hope you find these to be of interest!
Volunteer News issue 4
Volunteer News issue 3
Volunteer News issue 2
Contact Us
If you are interested or wish to find out more please contact :
Volunteer Co-Ordinator
Foundation Trust Office
Royal Shrewsbury Hospital
Tel: 01743 261473