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: 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, 1 full day for 6 months or no more than 2 full days a week for 3 months. 

Outpatients and welcoming and guiding roles: 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 6 months, one full day for 3 months, no more than one and a half days a week for 2 months.  

Family Liaison/admin roles: These are for a minimum of two or three days per week for three months. 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 can volunteer through our youth volunteering program. 

Are you a student? We welcome applications from students. However, we do not accept applications from students after the 1st 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 upto £8.90 per day for travel costs. If you have a journey time of 1+hrs 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 our Learning and Development Team.

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 then call you to discuss your application and see if volunteering at UCLH would work for you
3. Complete online DBS check: If successful 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 e-learning. This covers all aspects of volunteering at UCLH and topics such as infection control and different scenarios you may encounter. All volunteers complete core skills NHS e-learning
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 other bits of onlline learning
   
6. Start volunteering!

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

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 2 years before applying.

Your safety is important to us

Safety is our number one value at UCLH, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. The majority of our roles are very low risk and you will not be working directly with Covid patients.  As part of your volunteering, you will get:

• A full induction including e-learning, 1:1 support and shadowing other volunteers
• Training on infection control processes and procedures
• Access to the same PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) as staff
• Access to Covid testing and vaccination
• A named supervisor