Abstract
Young people volunteering on acute hospital wards can provide extra support to older patients, for example with eating and drinking, with mobilising and with therapeutic activities. This extra support can reduce nurses' workload while providing older people with opportunities to interact and engage. For the young people involved, volunteering can improve their skills and confidence, as well as providing opportunities for career development. Nurses are well-placed for developing and managing volunteer services due to their leadership, clinical skills and experience. This article describes a volunteer project where young people aged 16 years and above support older people on acute hospital wards in an NHS trust in England. The project was designed and managed by a nurse using the NURTURe model, a framework for planning, developing and organising volunteer services to support older patients on acute hospital wards.
Highlights
Background to hospital volunteeringThere are an estimated 3 million volunteers working in health and social care in England (Galea et al, 2013)
Evidence suggests that volunteers can add value when supporting health professionals in acute care settings by helping patients with eating and drinking, mobilising, and therapeutic activities which can impact positively on their health outcomes in relation to nutrition, falls, and delirium (Saunders et al, 2019)
Extra training was provided by a summer school was held for one week which provided training in new roles, workshops on the volunteer role in supporting and communicating with patients with dementia, and their role in delirium prevention, group workshops in navigating the challenges of the volunteer role on an acute medical older person ward, clinical skills in collaboration with the University of Nottingham School of Health Sciences and nursing development team
Summary
There are an estimated 3 million volunteers working in health and social care in England (Galea et al, 2013). Extra training was provided by a summer school was held for one week which provided training in new roles, workshops on the volunteer role in supporting and communicating with patients with dementia, and their role in delirium prevention, group workshops in navigating the challenges of the volunteer role on an acute medical older person ward, clinical skills in collaboration with the University of Nottingham School of Health Sciences and nursing development team. This provided volunteers with the opportunity to network and be signposted to careers advice. The underpinning philosophy is that the voluntary service is set up as a complementary service to enhance care (Merrell, 2000; Nissim et al, 2009; Overgaard, 2015; Lorhan et al, 2015)
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