Voluntary Services Annual Report April 2012 March 2013
1. Introduction The contribution that volunteers make to the day-to-day experiences of patients cannot be overestimated. They fulfil a range of valuable roles across the organisation, including directly supporting both patients and staff, gathering views on our services and receiving patients and visitors into our hospitals. This Annual Report describes progress against the aims set out in our Vision of Volunteering 2009 2014 which was approved by the Board in November 2009. It also projects forward to the work programme outlined in the revised Strategic Action Plan for 2013 2016. One of the strategic aims for volunteering set out in the Vision of Volunteering 2009-2014 was to have 1000 volunteers by March 2104. However, recognising the challenges presented by an ever-expanding volunteer base, the focus shifted in early 2012/13 to reshaping and strengthening the Voluntary Services Department and, by so doing, enhancing the experiences of volunteers. Having undertaken this work the Department is well placed to offer individualised support to volunteers and to begin to grow their number again. 2. Developing and Maintaining a Strong Infrastructure for Volunteering in NHS Lanarkshire 2.1 Achieve the Investing in Volunteers Standard in 2009 and retain the award every 3 years after that NHS Lanarkshire was first awarded the Investing in Volunteers standard in 2009 and was re-assessed by Volunteer Development Scotland (VDS) in June 2012. The assessment process comprised initially of the submission of a self-assessment portfolio. VDS then conducted face-to-face and telephone interviews with both volunteers and staff over a 3 day period. The volunteers, who were randomly selected by VDS, covered a wide range of ages and lengths of volunteering experience. The assessment team also interviewed members of the Public Partnership Forums. NHS Lanarkshire was the first NHS Board in Scotland to successfully retain the award. The final report from VDS said: Volunteering is embedded within NHS Lanarkshire, and the volunteer handbook states that volunteers are an integral part of our team. Both staff and volunteers are clear about the reasons for the latter s involvement in the organisation. These are set out in the volunteer policy as:- improving the quality of the patient experience, allowing staff to devote more time to their professional roles, and counteracting the social isolation experienced by some patients. The benefits of volunteering are identified as increased self-confidence, the development or renewal of skills, and the provision of a sense of belonging. 2
One volunteer commented, We let the staff get on with what they re supposed to be doing. Another reported being told by a member of the nursing staff, You are important to us. We couldn t run the service without you. The benefits of volunteering were endorsed by a further two volunteers, who added, It gets me out of the house again, and I really look forward to coming here each week, and I think I ve learned a lot and I ve gained so much I m really glad to have this opportunity to give something back. A staff member acknowledged the ability of volunteers to empathise with patients following their own experiences in hospital and commented, Patients are more responsive to volunteers, more likely to listen. 2.2 Establish the Volunteering Action Group to act as a project board for Investing in Volunteers and then taking forward the implementation of the Strategic Volunteering Action Plan During the course of the year the work of the Volunteering Action Group was focused on monitoring progress against the Strategic Action Plan, preparing for the Investing in Volunteers re-assessment and in developing and agreeing the revised Volunteering Improvement Plan for 2013-2016. It is intended to refresh the Group s membership in 2013/14 so that it better reflects the breadth of areas in which volunteers now have a presence. 2.3 Improve the capacity of the Voluntary Services Department to manage a significant increase in the numbers of volunteers within the organisation The last financial year was a time of considerable change in how NHS Lanarkshire recruits and supports its volunteers and this is reflected in the refreshed infrastructure of the Department. As highlighted in the previous Annual Report, the Voluntary Services Organiser post became vacant in January 2012. This was viewed as an opportunity to reflect on how NHS Lanarkshire could better integrate the administration of volunteering into organisational structures. This would then allow the staff in the Voluntary Services Department to concentrate on the development of volunteering opportunities and the involvement and support of individual volunteers. Consequently the vacant post was re-shaped and the team now comprises: Voluntary Services Manager (37.5 hours per week), focused on leading the team, interviewing and placing new volunteers, liaising with staff to develop new volunteering opportunities and reaching out to external agencies Voluntary Services Programme Assistant (16 hours per week) whose primary role is to mentor and support volunteers in addition to providing administrative support to the Manager 3
Recruitment Administrator (18.75 hours per week), sited within the Recruitment Team in Human Resources, who receives all initial enquiries from prospective volunteers and administers the recruitment process, including Occupational Health screening and PVG checks. The Recruitment Administrator started in post in November 2012 and the Voluntary Services Programme Assistant in March 2013. 2.4 Support NHS Lanarkshire staff to develop volunteering opportunities and to work alongside volunteers The mentoring approach taken towards ensuring that volunteers become settled in their roles equally assists in ensuring that staff understand what the role of a volunteer in their particular area is. In preparing for volunteers going into an area for the first time, the Voluntary Services Manager spends some time carrying out the tasks that volunteers would actually do. This establishes staff expectations of the volunteers. There were a number of new volunteer roles created in 2012/13. These have been much more complex than previous roles and have required considerable preparation with both staff and prospective volunteers, and were piloted in different areas with small numbers of volunteers. Staff are becoming increasingly involved in suggesting the roles that volunteers can take on: new roles in both Accident & Emergency and in Maternity have developed on that basis. Accident &Emergency Volunteers This volunteer role was piloted in Wishaw General Hospital from March 2012 and was evaluated as successful in the summer of 2012. It was therefore agreed that this role should be rolled out to both Hairmyres Hospital (starting in January 2013) and Monklands Hospital (April 2013). The volunteer role is slightly different on each site as it has been designed mainly around what staff ask the volunteers to do. There is a core list of tasks that the volunteers are not allowed to do: volunteers and staff then agree the tasks which will be carried out. Each volunteer is mentored to ensure they feel able to meet the particular needs of the area. The staff in each of the departments have been very supportive of the volunteers and make them feel very welcome: they are good letting the volunteers know the impact that they are making. Chris was one of the volunteers involved in the pilot at Wishaw General Hospital. He had previously volunteered as a mealtimes volunteer and also in Care of Elderly ward. He was approached to see whether he was interested in volunteering in A&E as we were keen to get a group of experienced volunteers to try this role out. Chris had applied for nurse training but had decided to withdraw his application as he was wanting to get more experience. 4
Chris experiences as a volunteer led to him firstly gaining a job as a care worker in a local care home. Chris ultimately gave up his volunteering after a year in A&E and a total of 2 years volunteering when he started a permanent job with NHS Lothian as an Occupational Therapy Assistant. Maternity Services Meet and Greet The Meet and Greet volunteer role in Maternity Services was piloted in November 2012 and then rolled out in all February 2013. Voluntary Services had been working with staff for some time to develop an appropriate role for volunteers in Maternity Services as a large number of requests were received from people wanting to volunteer there. Consequently a volunteer role welcoming people to the wards during visiting times was developed. Approximately 20 people have been recruited to this role and it is being very well received by staff. Volunteers also inform visitors of the 3 visitors per patient policy, referring visitors who prove difficult to staff whose role it is to enforce it. Lynsey has been volunteering with the Meet and Greet service since January 2013. A single parent with 2 young daughters, Lynsey came to volunteering in order to build her confidence as a first step towards applying for college. She particularly enjoys talking to women and has additionally been assisting with gathering women s experiences of the service. Lynsey s confidence has developed considerably since she started volunteering. Palliative Care Volunteers The Voluntary Services Department has worked with the Palliative Care Managed Clinical Network to develop a volunteer role spending time with terminally ill patients in two wards in Wishaw General Hospital. Although it was initially envisioned that the volunteers would be able to spend time with patients during the final stages of their illness, this has not always proved to be appropriate. One volunteer has been with us for a year in what is a very emotionally demanding and the key has been making sure that appropriate support is in place: the Hospital Chaplain and the Manager Clinical Network Manager provide this. Considerable care has been taken when recruiting volunteers to this role and giving volunteers every opportunity to see whether it this suits them. Tom has been a volunteer with the Palliative Care project since it started in May 2012. He had recently retired from his job as a care home manager and was missing the contact that he had with the predominantly older people he worked with there. He really enjoys his volunteering as it allows him to continue the type of work that he enjoys and to spend time with his family who live abroad. 5
Dementia Volunteer Visitors In Autumn 2012 the volunteer visitor role description was reviewed to try to recruit volunteers who would be able to visit patients with dementia who were in hospital. Six volunteers were trained and placed in the early part of 2013 and a further four have started since then. They carry out different tasks with patients, from having newspaper groups, using the memory cards, playing dominoes and card games, singing and having general discussions. One of the volunteers was looking to do some meaningful activity in their local hospital. They had tried volunteering in the hospital before but had become ill and the volunteering had stopped. Their interest in starting up again had coincided with the start of this particular volunteer role. The volunteer now comes on a weekly basis and knows exactly what they are going to do with the patients that they work with. They will often stay for lunchtimes to try and encourage patients to eat in the day room rather than eat at their bedsides, thus making the mealtimes much more of a social activity. 2.5 Work with Community Planning partners to promote a joint vision of volunteering for Lanarkshire This piece of work was deferred due to other priorities during the year. It is planned to progress this in 2013/14. 3. Create a Diverse and Inclusive Volunteering Programme 3.1 Increase the number of volunteers who volunteer directly with NHS Lanarkshire, particularly within acute hospitals, aiming to have 1000 volunteers by 2014 In recent years the focus was very much on the development of new volunteering roles within the organisation and on efforts to recruit large numbers of volunteers. However, in parallel with the work to re-shape the Voluntary Services Department at a time when the Voluntary Services Manager was in effect working single-handed, it became clear that this model could not be sustained in the short term. Consequently, in order to ensure that the Department had an accurate picture of the number and location of active volunteers, contact was made with individual volunteers to clarify whether they were active and wished to remain registered with NHS Lanarkshire. The change in the structure of the Voluntary Services Department and the reduction in recruitment over the last year has allowed for more opportunities to support individual volunteers. Historically approximately a quarter of the volunteers within NHS Lanarkshire have been part of the Community Mothers Breastfeeding Peer Support Programme. Over the course of the last year, this programme was integrated 6
into the Breastfeeding Service within Maternity Services so providing a long term future for the volunteer programme. As part of this integration exercise, the programme also removed from its active volunteer list those individuals who had not been active in the recent and hence not maintaining their skills. Consequently there was only one training event held for Community Mothers during the year. As a result of both of these initiatives and of temporary constraints within the Voluntary Services Department, the number of individuals registered and regularly volunteering with NHS Lanarkshire stood at 331 at the end of March 2013. Additional factors influencing this reduction from the previous year were: the fact that a large proportion of the volunteers recruited over the last few years have been in the senior years at local schools and have been looking to study medicine or joining pre-registration nursing courses and have tended to stay with the organisation for a period of between 6 months and a year. Additionally, there has been reduction in the number of older volunteers and the transfer of approximately 30 volunteers to Kilbryde Hospice. 3.2 Target the recruitment of volunteers within NHS Lanarkshire to groups that have not traditionally volunteered in the NHS, including doubling the number of black and minority ethnic volunteers by 2014 From November 2012 information about new volunteers has been logged on EMPOWER following the transfer of the administration of volunteer recruitment to HR. This has meant that different information is now being collected and is in line with staff recruitment practices. Monitoring information is provided below: Gender Breakdown of Volunteer Applications 2012/13 Female Male Decline to Answer 7
Ethnic Background of Volunteer Applications 2012/13 Any Mixed Background Declined to comment Indian Other Black Other Ethnic origin Other White Pakistani Undefined White - British White - Scottish 3.3 Develop specific volunteer roles which can be carried out by volunteers under the age of 16 and volunteers with higher levels of support need Volunteer roles have been refined so they are more appropriate for young volunteers. However, for legal reasons we are unable to screen or to undertake Criminal Record Disclosure / PVG checks on individuals under the age of 16. Age Profile of Volunteer Applications Not specified under 16 16-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 over 65 3.4 Work with Practice Development, Medical Education and Organisational Development departments to encourage those looking for a career in healthcare to volunteer prior to going to University The Voluntary Services Department continued to liaise with other departments in NHS Lanarkshire in order to promote volunteering as a route to gaining experience of healthcare environments. 8
Volunteer roles have been amended so that they are suitable for young people who are looking for clinical experience. This means that both patients and the individual volunteers have a much better experience when they are volunteering and volunteers can take on more as they grow in confidence when interacting with patients. 3.5 Review the volunteering policy every 2 years and reimbursement of volunteer expenses policy annually to ensure that volunteers are not financially disadvantaged by volunteering. The Volunteering Policy was reviewed and, following ratification by the Clinical Governance Steering Group, is currently awaiting sign off by the Human Resources Forum. The Volunteering Expenses policy was updated in April 2012 and April 2013. Rates of out-of-pocket expenses provided to volunteers are laid down by the Scottish Government in line with the rates currently paid to NHS staff and advisory rates published by HMRC. 3.6 Work with external agencies such as educational establishments and job centre plus to promote volunteering in NHS Lanarkshire Good relationships have been maintained with the East Kilbride Schools Volunteering Programme and a number of secondary schools in Lanarkshire. School referrals are responsible for a large part of the recruitment process in the early part of the year as volunteering is promoted as an activity for school pupils wishing to apply to study medicine. 4. Provide a Positive Experience of Volunteering in NHS Lanarkshire 4.1 Establish a volunteer satisfaction survey which will set the benchmark and then be carried out every 2 years. This will include seeking the views of volunteers, patients and staff In view of the Investing in Volunteers assessment carried out in the summer of 2012 no survey of volunteer satisfaction survey was undertaken by NHS Lanarkshire. This assessment was carried out by VDS and therefore arguably provided a more independent opportunity for volunteers to provide their opinions. One of the indicators assessed by VDS is whether The whole organisation is aware of the need to give volunteers recognition. Feedback received from VDS indicated that all the volunteers whom they interviewed confirmed that their contributions are positively recognised by the organisation. They told the assessors that appreciation is demonstrated through the supportive environment in which they operate, acknowledgements in the volunteer newsletter, the volunteer services annual report, invitations to staff social events, support with personal problems, the availability of facilities such as 9
complementary therapies and relaxation classes, the annual volunteer meeting and awards. Comments reflecting volunteers satisfaction with their roles included: and The ward staff make you feel you re part of the team. Things like sharing sweets brought in by a patient really make you feel you re one of them, I ve volunteered in other places and this has been the best experience by far, There s absolutely no us and them feeling here, Volunteering here has been a fantastic experience. I would recommend it to anybody, It s lots of little things, like cups of tea. Although they don t have to, they always offer us tea when we re on the ward, The staff recognise that some mothers find it easier to talk to volunteers than to midwives. Maybe it s because they re shy about asking questions about alcohol and smoking. A staff member said: We know that volunteers are freely giving their time, and we always make sure to thank them. 4.2 Streamline the recruitment process in conjunction with Human Resources and Occupational Health, and informed by feedback from volunteers As described in 2.3 the recruitment process has been revised in conjunction with Human Resources who now provide a co-ordinating role. New training programmes have been developed specifically for volunteers in addition to the generic volunteer induction: An introduction to Equality and Diversity for Volunteers An introduction to Dementia, Delirium and Depression The importance of Food, Fluid and Nutrition Hand Hygiene In addition, a learning community for volunteers is now available on LearnPro with 200 licenses available: this will be explored further in 2013/14. Volunteers can also access the Mental Health First Aid course. 10
4.3 Evaluate volunteers experiences in specific areas throughout the life of the Strategic Volunteering Action Plan This piece of work was deferred until 2013/14 and work is underway to review volunteers experiences of training and development. 4.4 Seek volunteers views on the further development of volunteering within NHS Lanarkshire through a variety of methods Volunteers views on their activities is a core element of the Investing in Volunteers assessment process. Consequently volunteers are routinely asked if there is anything that they do not currently do as part of their role that they would like to take on. Where this was raised e.g. mealtimes in community hospitals, this has been actioned. 5. Develop the Capacity of Voluntary Organisations in NHS Lanarkshire 5.1 Improve relationships with Voluntary Organisations (such as WRVS, Hospital Radio and Friends of Hairmyres Hospital) which currently provide services within NHS Lanarkshire and work with them to reach the same standards as NHS Lanarkshire expects for its own volunteer programme The WRVS (now RVS) received funding in August 2012 to pilot an on-ward support service in six wards in Wishaw General, Hairmyres and Monklands hospitals. The Voluntary Services Manager was involved in developing and delivering the training programme for the initial group of volunteers at Wishaw General Hospital in December 2012. This pilot project is subject to separate monitoring and evaluation. The League of Friends at Hairmyres Hospital has been in existence for many years as an independent organisation. They have some 24 members, many of whom have been there for many years, mainly providing a reception service at the information desk in the hospital foyer and visiting patients in wards. Following discussion with their Chair and Treasurer in autumn 2012, it was agreed that their members would fully become part of the NHS Lanarkshire volunteer team. The Voluntary Services Department has had a long-term relationship with Kilbryde Hospice with regard to volunteers in the Day Hospice. These volunteers were initially recruited, screened, trained and supported by NHS Lanarkshire with the intention of handover to the Kilbryde Hospice Association at an appropriate point in time. It was initially planned that the relationship with NHS Lanarkshire should end when the day hospice transferred to the new accommodation. However, it was felt that it would be unsettling to the volunteers to be responsible to two different organisations and the volunteers transferred over to the Association in December 2012. 11
5.2 Develop new volunteering projects with voluntary organisations within NHS Lanarkshire We have been working with Cancer Services and Breast Cancer Care to establish a Headstrong service in each of the Cancer Day Units. The purpose of this service is to demonstrate wigs and scarf tying to individuals who have experienced hair loss as part of their cancer therapy. The role of the Voluntary Services Department has been to ensure that volunteers engaged by Breast Cancer Care meet the standards of NHS Lanarkshire with regard to recruitment and training. The service started in March 2013. In August 2012 a group of former patients of Ward 4 at Wishaw General Hospital who were attending Cardiac Rehabilitation exercise classes in Carluke got in touch with the ward as they wished to provide a peer support service for patients who have experienced heart attacks. Over the course of the last year the Voluntary Services Manager has worked with the group, the ward and Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland to developed a volunteer buddy role and appropriate training. The service started in March 2013 and is receiving referrals from the Cardiac Rehabilitation Specialist Nurse. 5.3 Maintain and further relationships with Volunteer Centre North Lanarkshire, Volunteer Centre South Lanarkshire and Volunteer Centre East Dunbartonshire Work continues alongside Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire and Voluntary Action South Lanarkshire which are both represented on the Volunteering Action Group. Over the last year there has been a change of personnel in both agencies and new relationships are being developed. Relationships have also been maintained with Voluntary Action East Renfrewshire and Voluntary Action East Dunbartonshire as volunteers for both Hairmyres Hospital and Kilsyth Victoria Cottage Hospital come from a wider area. Volunteering opportunities are posted on the Volunteer Scotland Website and the Voluntary Sector interface bodies all refer individuals to NHS Lanarkshire to volunteer 6. Refreshed Strategic Action Plan 2013-2016 Following discussion with the national Volunteering Progamme Manager, the local Strategic Action Plan was refreshed towards the end of 2012/13. The Plan continues to reflect the themes contained within the previous Action Plan which itself was derived from the Vision of Volunteering. Progress against the Plan will be monitored by the NHS Lanarkshire Volunteering Action Group and reported to the Executive Director of Nurses, Midwives and Allied Health Professionals who is the Board s nominated lead for volunteering. 12