Tomorrow marks the start of Volunteers’ Week and I would like to thank volunteers for all they do across our Trust and other organisations.

Volunteers play such a crucial role and the theme for this year’s Volunteers’ Week (1-7 June) is ‘Celebrate and Inspire’, which they do on a daily basis.

The contribution of volunteers is often unseen, visible only through the incredible impact of their efforts, so taking the time during Volunteers’ Week to celebrate all that they contribute to our local communities, the voluntary sector and society as a whole has never been more important.

We will be celebrating our volunteers with our Annual Tea Party on 7 June, but I would like to thank those that give their time to support our patients, my colleagues and visitors.

Here at the Trust, we have 353 volunteers and additional volunteers who support us through other organisations, for example, the League of Friends. There are over 30 different types of volunteer roles at our Trust and this currently includes a brand new programme called ‘Volunteer to Career’, which supports a direct route in to work into midwifery.

Our volunteers are a wide variety of ages and come from many different backgrounds, but they all say say they get so much out of their roles and being able to help people. All the details about volunteering are on our website www.sath.nhs.uk/ volunteers.

Another important role within our hospitals is that of a chaplain who can provide a listening ear to our patients, colleagues and visitors.

Our Chaplaincy Team has recently grown to nine to include chaplains from different faith backgrounds.

During 2022, the team was involved in the care of nearly 5,000 patients through prayers, blessings, baptisms, emergency weddings, support in end of life care, last rites, gatherings of remembrance, holy communion, and responding to emergency calls.

There is representation from Islam, Buddhism and Christianity to reflect the rich diversity celebrated within the hospitals and community, and representatives of other faiths and world beliefs are also called upon as and when needed.

The demand for their support, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, continues to grow as the team’s work expands into more areas of hospital life.

They play a unique but central role in the care we deliver and through their service, we are broadening the support that we offer to patients, families and colleagues, and many people are having better experiences in our hospitals as a result.

An event called ‘Breast Cancer Awareness: Breaking the Silence’ was recently held to encourage engagement with minority ethnic groups.

It was organised by the Seldom Heard Voices Forum, which was founded by Blossom Lake, one of our Breast Surgeons.

The group is a collaboration of community leaders from the Afro-Caribbean, Nigerian and Chinese community, University of Keele Race Ambassador Champion, carers of or those who have had cancer and team members from our Trust Research Department.

It found that those who have breast cancer or care for those with the illness, were experiencing stigma within their communities and it was preventing them telling family members.

Well done to everyone for the event which was the first of its kind. The group hopes to hold further events in the future.