Volunteering

NCHT needs volunteers to provide the services that are most needed by the people we wish to help. Information on four key volunteer groups is shown below.

Advice and Information Volunteers

At the Nightingale Community Hospice Trust we are developing an Advice and Information Service that will look at all the needs of a person living with cancer, their carers, their families and friends and find them the information they need at the time.

We will be able to find information and professional advice about their condition, their treatment and the services and benefits available to them. We will signpost them to other specialist organisations where appropriate and ensure that the help and advice they get is what they need.

If you feel that this is an area of volunteering that you have experience in or would like to train as an advisor we would be pleased to hear from you.

Contact sally@nightingalehospice.org.uk

Driving Volunteers

NCHT would like to provide a transport service for patients who need to get to hospital for treatment.

For many people living with cancer the journey to and from hospital appointments presents a problem and our aim is to make their journeys as easy and as stress free as possible. We need drivers who can help us to provide this transport service.

On some occasions, trips to and from hospital may need to include a  carer as well as the patient. It may also be necessary for drivers to wait for patients and carers while treatment is undertaken. Drivers will then return patient's back to their homes.

If you have some time to spend and feel that you could help provide this very important service we would be pleased to hear from you.

Fund Raisers

The Nightingale Community Hospice Trust arose through the actions of volunteers and charitable donations from many sources.

Like most charities, we can only develop and continue our work if we continue to be supported by the community we work in. Therefore, we need people to raise funds on our behalf.

We need supporters who are able to organise events, help at events or who don’t mind what they do but just want to help.

Please contact our fundraising manager, Mary on 020 8366 9674 or mary@nightingalehospice.org.uk and service and information if you feel that you could help raise vital funds by any of the above means.

We will offer you support and help with publicising any events you may wish to host and we can offer ideas that you might be able to put into practice. We can also put you in touch with other groups of fundraisers who are working with us. You will be a very welcome addition to the NCHT team.

Homesitting

The volunteer Home Sitting service is an integral part of the services provided by the Nightingale Community Hospice Trust.

Each Home Sitter is asked to sit for a minimum of 2 hours (usually on a weekly basis) with a person living with cancer, to act as a befriender and to give the patient and their carer some respite time.

We ask that our Home Sitters are responsive to the needs of the person they are sitting with. This means that you may need to sit with clients to provide some company and a chat. You might be asked to read, play chess, make a cup of tea, or perhaps pick up some light shopping. In all cases your presence will be reassuring and friendly.

Prior to assigning our Home Sitters with a client, our team makes an assessment of how best we can help in each individual situation and we take this into consideration when placing volunteers.

If you can offer some time and a friendly ear and would like to be a NCHT Homesitter we would be very pleased to hear from you. Please contact us on 020 8366 4333 or  information@nightingalehospice.org.uk for more information.