Community Volunteering hub

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The Community Volunteering hub offers information and support for hospices about launching and improving their community volunteer programmes.

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What is Community Volunteering?

The last few years have seen some very significant changes in hospice volunteering as volunteers have become increasingly involved in the direct support of people with palliative and end of life care (PEOLC) needs in the community, along with their families and carers.

This resource hub is informed by evidence gathered from a survey of hospice community volunteering undertaken by Hospice UK. 

For the purposes of the resource, community volunteering is defined as "volunteering, undertaken out with the hospice building, directly supporting people with palliative and end of life care needs in their homes."

Benefits of Community Volunteering

Findings in the Analysis Report suggest that community volunteering has many benefits to people with PEOLC needs, families and carers, staff, organisations and volunteers.
 

People with PEOLC needs:

   - Reduction in isolation through
     companionship.
   - Improved wellbeing.
   - Improved access to services.
   - Better care.
 

          Families/carers:

             - Respite from caring.
             - Reduction in isolation through
               companionship.
             - Improved wellbeing.
             - Improved access to services.

Volunteers:

   - Personal development/ experience for
     employment.             
   - Giving back – making a difference.
   - Sense of purpose and fulfilment.
   - Improved health and wellbeing.

          Staff and organisations:
 
             - A better understanding of PEOLC needs
               and their families.
            - Stronger connection to the community.

 

Create a Community Volunteering programme

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Starting out

If you're considering developing a community volunteering programme, there are several areas you might want to explore.
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Planning a programme

The type of community volunteering programme will need to be considered.
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Delivering the programme

Decisions made during planning will influence what support is offered, to whom and for how long. As well as how the programme is managed or led.
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Training and support 

There is a broad similarity in the range and content of training offered to hospice community volunteers.
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Monitoring and evaluation

It is important to gather information that helps you to understand what is happening in your programme and the difference that it is making.
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Case Studies

Case studies

These case studies provide great examples of community volunteering in action at hospices across the UK.
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Read the Analysis Report

The aims of the project were to:

   - Map the extent of community volunteering activity in hospice
     organisations.

   - Gather information about the services already in place and
     identify any barriers to developing such services.

   - Create an electronic resource to help the development of
     voluntary support in this context.

Results from an analysis of hospice community volunteering

Language and terminology

Throughout the project, we have been very aware of language and the influence that words can have on the relationship between people.

In many of the community volunteering programmes the emphasis is on 'doing with' rather than 'doing to', and the principle underpinning this resource is that volunteers, people with end of life care needs, families and carers are partners in the relationship, each meeting and responding to one another as individuals. 

For this reason, the resource intentionally does not use the term 'patient' but talks about 'a person/people with palliative and end of life care (PEOLC) needs.'

The word 'patient' only appears when used in quotes or case studies.

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Further resources

- The development of Neighbourhood Network in Palliative
  Care.
  (Kerala) Paleri, A., Sallnow, L. (2018) 
  Volunteering in Hospice and Palliative Care in India 
  In Scott R, Howlett S, editors.
  The changing face of volunteering in hospice and palliative
  care: an international perspective (pp157-169).
  Oxford: Oxford University Press.

- The development of Compassionate Neighbours
  Sallnow. L., Richardson, H. (2018) and Community 
  In: Scott R, Howlett S, editors.
  The changing face of volunteering in hospice and palliative
  care: an international perspective (pp157-169).
  Oxford: Oxford University Press.

- Exploring experiences of compassionate communities.
  Wegleitner, K., Heimerl, K., Kellehear, A. (2016)
  Compassionate Communities Case studies
  from Britain and Europe. Abingdon: Routledge

- An overview of the development of compassionate
  communities in England.

- Volunteering and community development.
  Volunteering Now (2011) The Role of Volunteering as an
  Integral Part of Community Development in Northern Ireland.

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Dying Matters

Hospice UK’s Dying Matters campaign is working with you to create an open culture in which we’re comfortable talking about death, dying and bereavement.

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