Celebrating our Hospital Volunteers in Volunteers Week 2-8 June 2025

The week-long event starts on the first Monday in June every year. It’s a chance to recognise, celebrate and thank the UK’s incredible volunteers for all they contribute to our local communities, the voluntary sector, and society as a whole.

A big thank you

We want to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to all our Trust volunteers. We currently have more than 260 volunteers across both sites supporting our staff and patients in a variety of different roles. Our volunteers show up every day with a smile and give up their own time to help us deliver the best care possible to our patients. We are very grateful for everything they do!

Our volunteers provide support in a wide variety of roles from being the friendly face to greet and welcome you to our hospitals, supporting cognitive stimulation groups for our patients living with dementia, tending to our gardens, helping with admin and ward duty tasks or simply keeping our patients company whilst at the hospital. Being in hospital can be an anxious time for patients, their family and friends and volunteers can really help ease the burden by making a difference in their experience.

Who are our volunteers?

Our volunteers range in age between 17 and 90 and generously give us in excess of 1,000 hours of voluntary support every week. The roles of our volunteers are always expanding as we discover new ways people can help us. Read more about volunteering at our Trust

We currently have 260 'red shirt' volunteers who are prominent at our welcome desks and you will see others in our Emergency Departments, on our wards, in our outpatient and day case areas supporting patients, supporting staff, being a friendly face and offering a reassuring hand. Sometimes you might not notice them, sometimes they are subtly in the background helping our admin teams or tending the gardens, but all making a huge difference.

There are other volunteers who aren’t in a red shirt, such as our chaplaincy volunteers who provide spiritual, emotional and befriending care and support to our patients at their bedside; volunteers at the Macmillan Hub in Gloucester and FOCUS Centre at Cheltenham support our oncology patients; parents in our Neonatal Unit have access to volunteers who share their lived experience during what is such a difficult time for these new mums and dads; our Young Influencers aim to ensure that young voices are heard and make a difference in the Trust and our local community.

The benefits of volunteering

Not only do we as an organisation benefit from the time offered by a volunteer but an individual can also benefit from volunteering.

• Did you know there are a number of significant health benefits to a volunteer including improved quality of life, improved ability to cope with ill health, a healthier lifestyle and meeting new people, which can improve self-esteem and sense of purpose.
• Volunteering can also be the gateway for young people who may be considering a career in a healthcare setting, offering the opportunity to understand the day-to-day running of a busy, acute hospital.

As well as helping others, volunteering has been shown to improve volunteers' wellbeing too.

• An estimated 14.2m people in the UK volunteered through a group, club or organisation in 2021/22.
• Almost one in five (16%) people report volunteering at least once a month (about 8.3m people in the UK).
• More than half of the UK population gets involved in informal volunteering – but this is less visible. Informal volunteering can involve things like going shopping, providing childcare or doing housework for free for someone who is not a relative or a friend.