Volunteers start work at Tamworth community hospital » Bill Payments » 24dash.com

A dozen kind hearted volunteers have signed up to help at one of south Staffordshire’s community hospitals following a successful public appeal.

12 Volunteers at Sir Robert Peel Hospital in Tamworth started work on 14 December after being selected from more than 100 people who stepped forward to volunteer for South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) Provider Services.

The team of workers will help support healthcare staff with administration duties, meeting and greeting patients and visitors or simply will take the time to chat to patients who have no friends or family to visit them.

Husband and wife volunteer team Pam, 55, and Tony Williamson, 65, of Woodend, near Tamworth, will be working on Andrew Ward at the hospital and are looking forward to the challenge.

Former Health and Safety Officer, Mr Williamson said: “Both Pam and I are retired and we wanted to give something back and do something useful with our time. The nurses are very busy so it is good that we can do some of the things that they haven’t got time for.

“It’s very rewarding and we’re enjoying it. In fact I think I’m getting more from it that the nurses!”.

The scheme is being piloted on one ward at Sir Robert Peel in Tamworth and will be rolled out to the whole hospital, Samuel Johnson Hospital in Lichfield and other community services run by South Staffordshire PCT Provider Services.

John Ward, Work Experience and Volunteer Co-ordinator, said: “We were delighted with the response from people who wanted to volunteer in one of our community hospitals and had difficulty shortlisting the final team.

“Their responsibilities will be wide ranging and could include directing patients to relevant departments or supporting our staff in providing services which will add to the patient experience such as reading, playing games, helping to prepare for busy meal times or simply have a chat with individual patients.”