Volunteering

Volunteer facilitators are vital to the success of the Expert Patients Programme (EPP) and make a difference to people living with one or more long-term health conditions.

If you would like to be a facilitator, you need to:

1. Be living with a long-term health condition or to have close personal experience of someone who lives with a long-term health condition.
2. Have the time available to attend the training (two 2-hour, 30-minute sessions a week, for seven weeks).
3. Have good listening skills.
4. Be able to commit to delivering at least one course a year.
5. Be able to work with a small group of people and build a rapport with them.
6. Be ready to learn new ways of approaching long-term health conditions.
7. Be an effective communicator.

Find out how to apply for the role.

This is an opportunity to support the welcome desk at Edenbridge Memorial Health Centre. Supporting patients checking in, helping patients to set themselves up on the online booking system and providing information on services within the building. This would be an ideal volunteer role for anyone who enjoys engaging with the public and helping people.

Minimum one volunteer shift once a week or fortnight. Hours can be flexible anytime Monday, Wednesday or Friday between 9am to 3pm (mornings preferable).

Do you enjoy walking?

Do you have a few hours that you could spare?

Would you like to lead a small walking group?

We’re looking for friendly, local volunteers to lead walks across east Kent and Swale to join the Walk and Talk scheme. You’ll be helping to support people of all ages and fitness levels to get out walking locally; providing a sociable, safe and healthy way for local people to improve their physical and mental health. To find out more about what we do please see our One You webpage and to apply please complete an interest form.

At KCHFT we are committed to supporting people in our community to live well and we need your help to continue with our mission. The Patient safety partner is a new and evolving role developed by NHS England to help improve patient safety across the health care system in the UK.

Patient safety partners will work alongside our colleagues, patients and families to influence and improve safety within the trust and in the community. Experience of working in the NHS is not essential, just a genuine desire to support patient safety improvement. A training package and ongoing support will be provided by our Patient Safety Team.

If you are enthusiastic, forward thinking, can communicate openly and have the time to commit to the role, we are keen to hear from you.

The Postural Stability Team is looking for an enthusiastic local volunteer to help with their falls exercise classes in Ramsgate. The classes are for people at risk of falls or with reduced mobility. The ideal volunteer will be required to attend from 15 minutes before class start time and help with setting up chairs.

During the class the volunteer will help observe participants to be aware of any safety risks, like trip hazards, feeling unwell or needing support. There will always be two trained postural stability leads in each class, one leading the class and the other observing but the second could be helping an individual, so a volunteer plays a key role supporting the group.

The postural stability leads will work with you to make sure you feel comfortable, confident and aware of the set up and in return, they offer a supportive environment with wonderful participants. You get a real satisfaction of helping the participants to transform to feeling safer and at less risk of falling.

Hours are weekly, on a Tuesday afternoon from 2.30 to 3.45pm

We are looking for volunteers to support our new specialist stroke rehabilitation ward at Westbrook House, Margate.

The main part of the role involves talking to patients and providing companionship while our clinical colleagues complete their tasks. The ward has only recently opened in June 2023 and so this is an exciting time to join the team as they change and develop the service.

All volunteers for KCHFT complete training and for this role the team will support you to learn more about stroke patients and their needs. If you are interested in this new role, get in touch now. Hours are flexible, seven-days-a-week but we ask you commit to at least one shift per week.

• Find out more about Westbrook House.

The NIHR Public Research Champions is a national initiative that is hosted and led by individual NHS trusts for public volunteers to support and promote health and social care research. Members are expected to join the monthly group meetings but can choose which or how many activities to get involved in.

This includes reviewing participant materials such as information sheets and consent forms, attending and/or facilitating workshops and presentations as well as being an active part of research and evaluation projects including recruiting and interviewing participants.

Please see our Research champion poster for details on how to get involved.

Do you have a therapy animal that you have registered with the national pets as therapy charity, or you think they have what it takes to make a good therapy animal?

Our organisation is registered with Pets as Therapy and we are always looking for individuals to come support our trust in our hospitals and at our services across Kent.

If you would like to learn more about registering you can visit Pets As Therapy.

To be a volunteer with our trust we do ask that you are registered with Pets as Therapy and with us as a volunteer. Please get in touch to see if we have a service you can volunteer with in the first instance.

Would you like the opportunity to help your local hospital in a special and unique way? The catering team at Hawkhurst, Kent has an exciting sustainability project where the service produces home grown fruit and vegetables. So far, the plot has produced tomatoes, strawberries, courgettes, lettuce, spring onion, potatoes, broad and runner beans. The garden not only provides produce for patient meals, but helps patients and colleagues mental and physical wellbeing too.

We are looking for individuals who would like to volunteer some of their time to make a difference and help this wonderful project. So, if you could spare some time each week, and you like the idea of getting involved with some gardening please get in touch with our voluntary services.

This is a flexible and exciting opportunity to support our staff in a non-clinical role across various areas of the service. One day you could be supporting on the wards playing board games with a patient and the next providing support with the discharge process.

If you are local to one of our community hospitals, have a couple of hours a week or fortnight to spare and enjoy interacting with people then we’d like to hear from you. This is a rewarding role and chance to support in our community hospitals with the benefit of NHS training and engagement.

We are looking for volunteers at the following sites: Westview (Tenterden), Whitstable, Faversham, Hawkhurst, Deal and Tonbridge.

To find out more information about our hospitals please visit: Community hospitals (kentcht.nhs.uk)

Please complete an interest form if you’d like to apply to volunteer at one of the above hospitals.

Can you or someone you know spare some time to support our services with phone surveys? You will get the opportunity to chat with patients and gain valuable insight into their experiences within our trust. Our surveys impact greatly on how we make improvements to our services, and ultimately makes a significant positive impact on the lives of our patients. Those who are at the heart of what we do.

If you can spare a few hours a week and like the idea of undertaking phone surveys please get in touch. You will be given training and support from services and current volunteers.

The following services require a patient experience volunteer: Community Nursing,
Community Rehabilitation Services,  Diabetes, Epilepsy and Lymphoedema.

Locations where this role is required include Herne Bay, Margate, Ashford, Folkestone, Sevenoaks and Deal.

Hours are anytime Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

Do you have personal breastfeeding experience? Would you like to support other mums who are – or who are considering – breastfeeding?

We are looking for volunteers for our local breastfeeding support groups across Kent. Our breastfeeding volunteers are local women who have breastfed at least one child. You will take part in a training programme, receive on-going development and supervision.

To become a breastfeeding volunteer, you need to be a good listener, sympathetic and able to give simple information to support families with their infant feeding journeys. You’ll volunteer alongside professionals and speak to women at breastfeeding drop-ins or antenatal sessions at our Kent Family hubs.

Full training will be given for this volunteer role.

Our hubs are open Monday to Friday, hours vary but are usually between 9am and 5pm.

For more information on this role, please contact kentchft.infantfeedingteam@nhs.net