Helpforce
Our partnership with Helpforce from 2019-21 provided more than 1,000 patients, families and carers with end of life support from volunteers.
We worked together to provide essential guidance to seven NHS Trusts and Health Boards in the UK to set up or develop their current end of life volunteer-led services. This included supporting organisations to adapt to the challenges of the pandemic to make sure volunteers could offer support safely.
Despite all the challenges thrown by the pandemic, with the help of Marie Curie, we were able to support five organisations to mobilise their volunteers to help at least 1,275 patients, families and carers, with volunteers providing a total of 1,159 hours.
Why was the partnership needed?
Volunteering is an important and established part of hospice and some community support services. But volunteering in the NHS varies significantly across different organisations, in terms of practice, scale, types of roles and how well volunteers are integrated with staff and clinical services.
We wanted to address this, as we know how valuable volunteer support can be. Well-trained volunteers are able to be there for patients, family and friends, and take some of the burden at a very difficult time. They can provide emotional and practical support, companionship and alleviate social isolation, as well as signpost to other relevant services.
Having a volunteer present can also help relieve emotional stress and guilt felt by staff who may not always be able to spend more time simply being there for dying patients.
Who took part?
Seven NHS Trusts and Health Boards were part of the project:
- The West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust
- The Northern Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland
- NHS Borders in Scotland
- York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- Aneurin Bevan University Health Board
- Powys Teaching Health Board
- Hywel Dda University Health Board
Download service design guides
You can download the guides here , including:
- A guide to: Aneurin Bevan University Health Board's End of life care volunteer service
- A guide to: Northern Health and Social Care Trust (NHSCT) - Bereavement comfort call volunteer service
- A guide to: West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust's End of life care volunteer service.
To find out more about end of life volunteer-led service design, contact Andrew Wilson-Mouasher – Divisional General Manager at Marie Curie, andrew.wilson-mouasher@mariecurie.org.uk.
