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Volunteering at our hospitals

Our voluntary services department organises and co-ordinates the activities of members of the public who wish to give their time, free of charge, to support our activities.

How volunteers help

Our aim is for volunteers to improve the quality of life for patients and to complement the work of paid staff.

  • What do volunteers do?

    Volunteers help in various ways to provide a wide range of extra services, which improve the quality of life in hospital for patients.  Examples include:

    • greeting and directing patients:  we have information points at both hospitals, where volunteers greet people on arrival and direct patients and visitors to wards, clinics and departments.
    • providing clerical and general assistance:
      • in outpatient clinics, volunteers may file information and letters, deal with simple queries and chat to waiting patients.
      • on the wards, volunteers may tend to flowers and visit patients as chaplaincy volunteers.
    • distributing magazines and books: volunteers use our trolley to provide library books and magazines to wards and departments.
    • providing complementary care: some qualified volunteer complementary therapists offer staff support sessions within cancer services.
    • helping in cancer services: volunteers may befriend and help patients with refreshments, offering general support during a patient's visit or stay in hospital and help staff with simple clerical tasks.

    The role of the volunteer is complementary to the work of our paid staff.

  • Other volunteering opportunities

    • Find out about volunteering with the Friends of St Thomas' and the Friends of Guy's.
    • Help with events and mailings for Guy's and St Thomas' Charity. Extra support is greatly appreciated in helping with office based administration, collecting money from local organisations and events or being part of our cheering party at some of London's biggest sporting events.

Download our volunteering lealfet

Volunteering at Guy’s and St Thomas’ leaflet

Volunteering at Guy's and St Thomas'| (PDF 552Kb)