Our dedicated volunteers offer practical and emotional support to our patients
They also provide a helping hand for our staff and a friendly face for our visitors.
They can support the hospital in several ways from welcoming and directing visitors, giving out refreshments on the wards or chatting to patients.
Our recruitment process can take from one to three months. It will depend on how quickly you complete necessary checks and stages.
Please review the job roles listed below and use the relevant links to submit your application.
The Active Response Volunteer (ARV) role is the most popular role as it is very diverse and every day is different. The ARV is about ensuring that we helping, the patients and areas across the hospital that require our help. Clinicians will either bleep or call volunteers to ask for their help and the ARV will attend the ward or service requiring support.
Some of the things that an ARV might do includes: supporting mealtimes, collecting medications from the pharmacy, helping with patients that are lonely/anxious, shopping or playing games and activities with patients. In addition, you can help patients and family at End-of-Life Care, help resolve visitor and patients issues with lost property or supporting the emergency department when under pressure. If you like to be busy and enjoy a challenge this role is for you. There are over 5 modules of training that you can do to continually develop your training and experience.
This is the starting point for many of our volunteers. We all know how big and disorientating hospitals can be particularly if you are anxious about your appointment and don’t know where to go. As a Meet and Greet volunteer you will play an important part ensuring that our patients’ journey and experience is the very best it can be by helping patients feel comfortable from the moment, they step in to our hospitals.
Volunteers that like driving and would be interested in driving the cherished buggy to help patients, visitors and staff to get to their destination across the site. For this role you will require a full clean driving license.
Apply for a patient and visitor facing role here
If you are interested in providing spiritual support and have empathetic and great communication skills this role could be the right for you. You will work directly with our chaplaincy team who are well regarded for their expertise in providing a confidential and independent support to our patients/visitors/staff most in need. There is rigorous and extensive training involved so please consider your availability for this role before applying.
Macmillan is partnered with Barts Health Trust and provides specialist services to our cancer patients. There are several roles for volunteers such as supporting the Macmillan Centres and providing patient information as well as visiting patients on the ward and ensuring that information leaflets are always available.
We are currently recruiting volunteers for three exciting roles with Vital Arts, Barts Trust's inhouse creative health team. Our Walk and Talk / Creative Bedside Volunteers support patients on the wards through gentle art walks and one-to-one creative activities, helping to encourage mobility, conversation and wellbeing.
Our Collections Care Volunteer works behind the scenes to help document, care for and maintain our hospital art collection across St Bartholomew's Hospital.
Finally, our Marketing and Social Media Volunteer supports the team in sharing stories, promoting programmes and celebrating the impact of creative health across Barts Health. Whether you’re interested in patient engagement, heritage and collections, or communications, there is a role to suit a range of skills and interests.
Did you know that stroking a domestic pet can have a real therapeutic effect which includes: lowering blood pressure, calming down stress levels, distraction and more besides? Our therapy pets bring so much joy to our hospitals and Have you got a pet (usually dogs) that likes to be cuddled and has an excellent temperament.
Please note, those interested in this role must be registered with PaTS or Mayhew.
There is nothing that can make any of us feel better than a bit of pampering and for our patients this is especially important.
The patient research champion plays a very important role in supporting the clinical research activities and trials.
T here are a number of ways in which you can help us to raise the profile of research across Barts Health and form closer links between research teams and the local communities we serve. These will cover tasks such as making sure we are displaying posters and leaflets for approved studies in our hospital reception areas, offering a ‘lay’ perspective to researchers on the design and development of their studies, volunteering at research events, conducting simple surveys and lots more besides.
Trolley support - with Barts Guild, Friends of Royal London and Newham
Barts Health Trust is very lucky to have allies and friends that fundraise and support our hospitals and patients with funding and by providing services to our patients, visitors and staff. One of the vital services they provide is a trolley that takes refreshment items around to our patients.
If you would like to apply, please complete the section available on the application form or contact the team who can support you.
Apply for a support service role here
Barts Health NHS Trust is committed to shaping and developing our services with the involvement of the local community. This includes ensuring that the patients voice is used to inform decision making to improve outcomes for people using the NHS and our hospitals
We have plethora of forums and communities across our hospital where you can contribute and share your patient experience and play your part in helping us to make real and lasting change.
If you are keen to help support your local hospital as a patient voice these are your options as
Patient leaflet assessors - currently closed
If you would like a role that support you to volunteer from home, we are looking for volunteers to read through new information leaflets for our patients. It is important to get independent insights in to how accessible the information that we give to patients is easy to understand.
This role requires two hours of your time twice a month to feedback your insights in to new patient leaflets.
Apply for a patient partner role here
Duke of Edinburgh (DoFE)
We are an approved provider for the Duke of Edinburgh awards. If you are part of the scheme and would like to consider volunteering option at Barts Health NHS Trust please contact Thomas Conneely.
For further information or support, please contact our volunteers team.
And we would like it to be a valuable experience for you too.
You’ll make new friends, meet and work with new people from all walks of life, learn new skills and gain new experience.
Our volunteers tell us they feel more confident and happy by giving back and helping others.
We’re proud to stand alongside them.
“Every day, I see the extraordinary impact our volunteers have, offering reassurance, comfort, and practical support in ways that clinical care alone cannot.” – Caroline Alexander, chief nurse, Barts Health.
🎥 This video was filmed by one of our talented volunteers.
If you’d like to learn more before you apply, please phone us:
020 8535 6772
020 7363 8107
