Thank you to volunteers at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

Posted: 5 June 2020

Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust has been celebrating Volunteers Week 2020 (1-7 June 2020) by showing support for the hundreds of local people who have given their time to support the Trust.

Volunteers play a huge role in enhancing the patient experience and complementing work across the Trust.

Bridget O’Kelly, Director of Workforce at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust said: “We have over 500 volunteers working across all sites and have seen an amazing response over the last eight weeks as individuals have come forward in their hundreds to say that they would like to help us.

“Volunteers have helped with our stores, in the pharmacy and on our wards talking with patients and helping our staff. Thank you so much to them.”

The Trust has also welcomed seven new wayfinding volunteers to help improve the experience of patients trying to navigate the new entrance and exit points to Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

Ryan Pike, one of the Trust’s wayfinding volunteers and Anthony Banton, patient experience manager at the Trust.

The volunteers are located at the main public entry and exit points to the hospital and have been an invaluable resource to patients and staff.

In addition to helping people find their clinics, they have been involved in locating lost property and helping new staff navigate around the hospital.

Bridget O’Kelly, Director of Workforce at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust continued: “To our volunteers who have had to shield and who we have not seen for the last eight weeks; we are thinking of you, and look forward to seeing you when it is safe to do so.

“Thank you to every volunteer, your contributions have made a huge difference to us and they will do going forward.”

One of BHT's many volunteers, Scott Tearall who supported the Acts of Kindness team during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Watch a video of Bridget O’Kelly, Director of Workforce at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust talking about volunteering here.