Voluntary Services
As an independent charity, Lewis-Manning is heavily dependent on volunteer support.
Volunteers provide assistance in a wide range of areas within the Hospice service, including:
Day Hospice Kitchen
Transport Fundraising
Complementary Therapies Hair Salon
Reception Garden
Maintenance Administration
Retail Shops
Take a look at the descriptions below to see what kinds of things you could be doing as a volunteer at Lewis-Manning Hospice.
Reception Duties – Greeting patients, relatives and other visitors.
Day Hospice – Making tea / coffee / cold drinks and serving the patients. Laying tables for patients’ lunches, clearing away and loading the dishwasher. Talking with patients and helping with creative arts.
Drivers – Providing transport (in own car) for patients to arrive at the hospice at 10am and return home at 3pm. Other driving duties are also occasionally required, such as providing transport for carers who attend our monthly Carers’ Day, and transport for attendees to clinics.
OR
Driving Lewis-Manning vans – collecting clothing and furniture and distributing to the ten Lewis-Manning Hospice charity shops.
Complementary Therapies – Reflexology, aromatherapy or massage led by fully qualified therapists for patients in Day Hospice.
Requirements: applicants must be qualified with a minimum of ITEC with at least two years experience. We will require copies of original certificates and current insurance certificate, along with any evidence of membership to professional bodies.
Garden/Maintenance – Lewis-Manning Hospice’s gardens are looked after by a team of dedicated volunteers and there are many maintenance and ‘odd jobs’ to be carried out, such as, mowing the lawn, weeding, watering, sweeping the driveway, etc.
Administration Tasks – Administration and IT tasks, including data inputting, filing, and photocopying etc.
Fundraising – Helping at events, collections (outside supermarkets, etc), counting money, administration.
Kitchen – Assisting the chef, preparation, washing-up, etc.
Shops – Till operations, serving customers, sorting and steaming clothes, and keeping shop floor and rails clean and tidy.
Volunteers are recruited and managed by the Volunteer Services Co-ordinator and are required to complete a registration form, attend an interview and provide two references.
Since April 2002, volunteers (and staff) are also subject to a satisfactory disclosure certificate issued by the Criminal Records Bureau, to ensure that they are suitable persons to work with vulnerable people. This is a requirement of the Care Standards Act 2000 and the Health & Social Act 2008.
Some volunteers provide their time as and when they are able, others commit to a certain number of hours on a more regular basis. Relatives and carers of patients very often comment on the support they have had from volunteers when writing to express their appreciation of the care that they and their loved one have received.
The hours that volunteers contribute and the help they provide is invaluable to patients, their carers and families, as well as to the Lewis-Manning staff. Every volunteer, regardless of where in the Hospice they choose to contribute their time, is a valued member of the team – without our volunteers Lewis-Manning would not be able to provide the level of service it does to those living with a life-limiting or life-threatening illness.
Click here to download and application form.
