Kings College Hospital Volunteering Programme

Kings has over 1,700 volunteers who help the Trust on a weekly basis. These volunteer help in a variety
of roles, but all of them are public and patient facing with the aim of improving the experience of patient
and visitor experience, supporting staff and the local community.

Volunteering has been a wonderful experience, which has helped me secure a paid position within
the hospital. I would encourage everyone and anyone to volunteer Jana Sylejmani, Volunteer
Kings Volunteers are grateful for the generous support of NESTA and the Trust Charity. Kings
volunteering scheme has recently been independently evaluated by the Kings Fund.

Overview of the Service:

Kings has a very young and ethnically diverse service: 55% of our volunteers are between the
age of 16 and 24, and nearly 70% are under 30. Almost 70% are from BME backgrounds
Around 70% of our volunteers are based on wards, where their main role is befriending patients,
assisting at mealtimes and offering emotional support to patients
In addition, the Trust has a Hospital to Home Scheme, whereby volunteers meet patients whilst
on the ward and accompany them home following discharge. Volunteers then provide short term
befriending and support to the patient before signposting them to other organisations. Kings is
believed to be the only hospital volunteering service running such a scheme
The volunteering service also has specially trained volunteer Community Health Ambassadors,
who attend local events to raise awareness on public health issues

Benefits and Motivation of Volunteers:

Motivations include; Giving back to the local community, helping with applications to further
study and employment, and making friends
In our 2014 Annual Volunteers Survey, 91% of volunteers said they felt volunteering would help
their future employment prospects
In the same survey, 97% agreed that volunteering was helping their personal development

Impact:

Notable impact on patient experience: Those patients with access to a volunteer score the Trust
on average 3.34 points more highly on the Friends and Family Test and were 2% more extremely
likely to recommend the Trust
Patient wellbeing: Volunteers patient experience of discharge, prevent unnecessary hospital
readmissions, help prevent social isolation and improve the health and wellbeing of patients
Return on Investment: Volunteers give the Trust over 2,000 hours of their time, which equates
to 53 full time members of staff with consummate costs of around 1million

[Volunteering] will help me pursue a career as a paediatric nurse due to the fact that I have
much more of an understanding about the profession of nursing Haja Sesay, Volunteer, 19
Questions? Please contact Katherine Joel at: katherine.joel1@nhs.net or on 0203 299 4223