By Jo Flood

Walking into St Thomas' hospital in London is like entering a self-contained town. Besides the wards there are shops, beauty salons, restaurants, a chapel - even a cinema. What you wouldn't immediately realise is that a lot of this hospital community is run by volunteers.

"The volunteers are very committed," says Susan Taleghany, the Voluntary Services Manager. "They wear name-tags so everyone knows who they are, and after five years they get a badge to wear. Then there's a gold badge for long service after 25 years."

"The staff treat volunteers as part of the team," says Lesley Swann, who has volunteered two days a week for the last six years. "I started volunteering here when I'd finished work and my family had left home. The volunteers are such a friendly bunch, it's a really nice atmosphere."

The diversity of volunteer roles

There are currently more than 400 volunteers working between Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals, and only 31 of them left over the last year. A striking feature of the volunteers is their diversity. They range between students who want to train as doctors through to retirees, and from those in full-time employment to the unemployed, and come from a wide spread of ethnic backgrounds.

Most volunteers start working on the information desk at first. Fabian Ajiroba has been volunteering for five years. "I love getting involved and communicating with the patients," she says. "I'm using the opportunity to get experience on the information desk and I'm hoping that I'll get a full-time job in reception here."

After working on the information desk there are opportunities in a wide range of roles. "A lot of students come for lab work or pharmacy experience," Susan explains. "Some people join the chaplaincy, especially people who are training to become chaplains across different faiths. There are two dedicated volunteers who run the library trolley, but most people are welcomers."

St Thomas' is one of only two hospitals in the country to have a MediCinema, where patients can watch films even in their wheelchairs or beds. "Some people work in the evenings as ushers in the MediCinema," Susan says. "We even have volunteers who come and play the piano." Not to mention the voluntary masseurs, Red Cross trained dermatologists and language translators.

So there is an enormous range of opportunities, even before you take into account the fundraising that is organised by volunteers for the Friends of St Thomas'.

The application process

Confidentiality is a key part of the induction programme, along with training in infection control. After the basic training, volunteers are given a mentor in their particular area."

Volunteers are also recruited from among the patients. Within the cardiac department, for instance, they are registering patients as 'expert volunteers,' who can help new patients going through the same experience. 

Donna Mills started volunteering after being a patient at the hospital. "I couldn't work any more," she explains, "and it was suggested that taking up voluntary work would help me get better." Did it work? "A great big yes!"

Donna doesn't only work on the information desk and in the hospital charity shops. "I am also involved in patient user groups in oncology, and I'm now working with Macmillan Cancer Relief. And I'm a member of the national chemotherapy advisory group [part of the Patient and Public Involvement Programme]. I'm a 'patient representative,' which gives me a better perspective of the problems the doctors and nurses have as well as the patients." She describes herself as, "not a do-gooder, but I do like to make it better for patients coming in. There are lots of little things you can do that make a big difference in the end."

Guy's and St Thomas' ask for a minimum of four hours a week from volunteers, but most seem keen to offer more than that. Apart from the difference they make to the patients, it seems that the volunteers are also inspired to stay for years because of the sense of community and friendly environment offered by the hospital. As Susan says, "Volunteers become like family. They stay for years, and everyone is sad when they go."

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