Location- New Cross Hospital- Adult inpatient wards
Reporting to: Ward managers and staff, Volunteer Services Team
Hours required: At least one patient meal time session per week. (Preferably the same time each week). Ward meal times are breakfast- 7:30 am- 9:00 am, lunch 11:30 am- 1:00 pm, evening meal- 4:30 pm- 6:00 pm
Role Summary/ Purpose To encourage and support adult patients in hospital who require extra help during their meal times
Main Tasks- During Patient Meal
On arrival in the ward, report to relevant ward(s) and introduce self to nurse in charge. Ask if there are any patients on the ward at that time whom they feel could benefit from having a volunteer meal time helper
Check if patient has any specialist support needs (e.g. swallowing difficulties, cultural menu ). N.B. Ask this question on each visit
Find patient(s) and introduce yourself as a volunteer
Assist with their meal time practically- offer to open packets, cut food, pass items etc
Offer gentle encouragement to patient to consume as much of their meal as possible
Other tasks
Support patients to choose items from the menu that they would enjoy
Provide companionship to patients, sit and talk with them if they wish. Suitable subjects may be food, what do they like/ dislike?
Drinks rounds- taking trolley round, offering hot drinks to patients
Ensuring patient water jugs are topped up
Ensuring patients have access to nurse call buzzer
Passing on any concerns over patient wellbeing to staff
Report to nursing team if patients do not eat or eat very little
Skills/ Experience Required
Understanding of personal, and food hygiene issues
Excellent communication skills
Able to approach patients who may present with varying levels of communication ability, and to be able to build up relationships with ease
Good time keeping, reliability and commitment
Ability to be flexible
Sensitivity and sound judgement skills
Volunteers will need to obtain satisfactory clearance from the Trust Occupational Health service, and Disclosure and Barring Service for this role.