Volunteering
Volunteering can be a good way of getting an idea of what it’s like to work in the health and social care sector.
But it’s not a short-term commitment: we ask all King’s Volunteers to give us at least three hours of their time a week for a year so we can create long-lasting and meaningful roles for them. You also need to:
- be over 16
- be good at mixing with people
- enjoy helping others
- want to develop your own skills as an individual.
King's Volunteers do not do – or shadow – clinical work or short-term work-experience placements. If you are interested in short-term clinical or non-clinical work placements, consider our work experience programme.
Why volunteer?
First-hand experience:
Although none of our 250-plus team of volunteers gets involved in the clinical aspects of patient care, it does give you the chance to work alongside paid staff at the Trust in a professional environment. This enables you to experience first hand some of the challenges of working in a hospital as well as the rewards.
Demonstrate your skills:
Becoming a King’s Volunteer can be a great chance to demonstrate your capabilities to potential employers and educational establishments. This is especially valuable if you are considering a career in the NHS.
Top-class training:
To ensure we deliver the best for our patients, staff and the volunteers themselves, our well-organised volunteers scheme is backed by full training and a highly professional and dedicated team delivering high-quality day-to-day support. It means you can be of more help, quicker, and it also helps you to demonstrate the work you have done to potential employers and educators.
What do King’s Volunteers do?
You help make King’s a little friendlier and more comfortable for our patients and their visitors. You can do anything from accompanying a patient during surgery to showing patients and visitors around the hospital.
Current volunteering roles at King’s include:
- Ward Visitors help make patients’ time in hospital more comfortable by chatting, listening, reading, doing a small amount of shopping, running an errand or escorting them on short walks.
- Hospital Guides work across the hospital giving patients and visitors directions and escorting them.
- Activity Group Volunteers help coordinate activities for elderly patients on the wards, such as games, singing and general stimulation.
- Day Surgery Assistants talk and listen to patients who are about to have minor surgery, and sit with them during the procedure.
- Meal Assistant Volunteers assist patients with eating and drinking at mealtimes.
- Chaplaincy Volunteers offer spiritual, religious, pastoral and practical support to patients of all beliefs. This is more of a listening and responding role rather than about religion or belief.
How do I sign up?
Find out more about what's on offer and how to apply to be a King's Volunteer.
We will review your completed application and if we think there is a good chance of a mutually beneficial placement for you at the Trust, we will invite you to one of our weekly Recruitment Events. You will hear back from us within five working days of submitting your application.
Our Recruitment Events give you a chance to find out a bit more about King’s and our volunteering scheme. They enable us to find out more about you and assess what you can offer us.
If you are successful, we will invite you to join the King’s Volunteers, subject to satisfactory references, Criminal Records Bureau checks and Occupational Health clearance. You will complete our training programme and then move onto specific placements at the Trust. The whole process takes two to three weeks depending on your availability and any training you need for your specific area of work.
If you have any further queries about volunteering or how to apply, email us at kch-tr.volunteers@nhs.net or call us on 020 3299 5111.