UCLH NHS Foundation Trust

The types of role that we offer and their minimum commitments

We offer three main types of roles. As part of the application process, you will be asked to select one type of role you are most interested in. These roles are:

Ward-based roles supporting inpatients: We ask for a regular commitment of the same time/day each week for a minimum of 135 hours a year. This could comprise half a day a week for 12 months, one full day for six months, or no more than two full days a week for three months. 

Roles supporting outpatients, and welcoming and guiding: We ask for a regular commitment of the same time/day each week for a minimum of 60 hours in half a year. This could comprise of half a day a week for six months, one full day for three months, or no more than one and a half days a week for two months.  

More intensive Family Liaison and administrative roles: These are for a minimum of two or three days per week for three months. This equates to a minimum of 165 hours. 

These roles are explained in more detail in the ‘General Interests’ section above. When the recruitment team contact you for your telephone interview, they will be able to talk through which roles we are currently recruiting to in more detail. 

Are there any restrictions to volunteering at UCLH?

Minimum age: Volunteers must be aged 16 or older. Applicants aged 16-17 (or 18 if still in sixth form/college) can volunteer through our youth volunteering programme. We will next be recruiting at the end of March/early April. Please register your interest by emailing Hannah.Brazil@nhs.net. Please do not complete the above application form. Applicants must live or study in the London Boroughs of Camden, Islington or Westminster, or be children of UCLH staff. All placements are for a minimum of three months. Please note that we do not offer work experience (see below).  

Are you a student? We welcome applications from students. However, we do not accept applications from students after 1 November of their second year. We do not accept any final year students, as study commitments conflict with sustaining a regular commitment.

Do you live over an hour away? We prefer volunteers to live close to UCLH sites. Currently, we are only able to reimburse expenses of up to £9.00 per day for travel costs. If you have a journey time of more than one hour to get to us, we find that it makes it harder to sustain a regular commitment and can prove expensive to volunteer. Therefore, if you live more than an hour away we encourage you to volunteer at your local hospital.

Looking for work experience, internships, or clinical placements? We are sorry but our department does not offer these placements. Although there is an overlap between volunteering and work experience, all our roles tend to be ongoing and longer term. They are also focused on improving our patient experience. If you are aged 16-18 and wanting work experience, please contact the UCLH Staff Development team on uclh.enquiry.staffdevelopment@nhs.net. 

The process to becoming a volunteer at UCLH

1. Apply online: If applying online is difficult for you, please contact us.
2. Telephone chat: We will call you to discuss your application and see if volunteering at UCLH would work for you
3. Complete online NHS ID and DBS checks: If you meet our criteria in the telephone chat, you will need to send us copies of ID for an NHS ID check and DBS check.
4. Online volunteer induction: All patient-facing volunteers must complete online eLearning. This covers all aspects of volunteering at UCLH, including topics such as infection control and different scenarios you may encounter. All volunteers complete core skills NHS eLearning
5. 1-1 Induction: Once all your checks have cleared and you have completed your training, we will arrange for your 1-1 induction. This is where you will meet your new supervisor and be trained in your role. This may include shadowing other volunteers and completing other onlline learning modules
   
6. Start volunteering!

On average it takes 6 weeks for someone to come through this process and start volunteering with us.

Do you need additional support to volunteer? please email us to arrange a time to have a chat uclh.volunteering@nhs.net

Is hospital volunteering right for you? Before applying, it is important to consider that volunteering can be an emotionally demanding experience. If you are currently or have recently been coping with a medical diagnosis, either as a patient, family member, or close friend, this may not be the best time for you to volunteer with us. In particular if you or someone you are close to has been affected by cancer, we ask that you wait for two years before applying.