Kilbryde Hospice successfully opened its doors to our very first In Patient in August 2018 and we now operate a 12 bed palliative care unit with a fantastic team of clinical staff.

Volunteers have always played an important role in the development of the Hospice services and in the future we hope to have a team of volunteers within the IPU supporting the current employed staff with a range of activities in order to add value to the time spent here by patients and their families.

In November 2018, 2 volunteers were given the opportunity to become part of a ‘pilot’ project to trial the role of a volunteer within the IPU. The process of embedding this role into the clinical environment still requires some work, which means we will be delaying the induction of any additional volunteers into this role until further notice. Over the next few months, we will be pulling together a ‘Volunteer IPU Assistant Induction Training Programme’ with the two current volunteers, which will include essential training that each volunteer will need to attend prior to being placed in the IPU.

We are aware that many volunteers have long awaited this role and we understand that this further delay may cause frustration, but it is critical that we recruit and appropriately train individuals before placing them within the IPU. This is to ensure that staff and volunteers are aware of and working to appropriate policies and procedures.

The Volunteer Development Officer and Clinical Lead Nurse will communicate with all volunteers when this vacancy becomes available again.