Welcome Make a difference;

volunteer with NHS As NHS Ayrshire & Arran‟s Ayrshire & Arran Nurse Director, I have a great

deal of interest in our volunteering programme. NHS Ayrshire & Arran Without volunteers many of our holds the Investing in patients, service users and Volunteers (IIV) UK visitors would not have such a Quality Standard for positive experience. organisations that

From our volunteers who help involve volunteers. on the Welcome desks and wards to the volunteers who are Volunteers are not volunteering through a voluntary paid. Regardless of organisation such as the Hospital Volunteers shops and whether they are an NHS Ayrshire & Arran cafes as well as Hospital Radios, there are many of us Direct volunteer or an who are touched in some way Indirect volunteer Professor Hazel Borland by these volunteers‟ generosity. with one of our

voluntary I hope you enjoy reading this issue of Spotlight. It provides a varied picture of volunteering and how we, as an NHS Board, are progressing. One area of organisations or progression is that during 2017, NHS Ayrshire & Arran will be renewing the community partners.... Investing in Volunteering (IiV) award which you can read more about it on they are priceless! Page 5. I hope that for those of you who are asked to participate in the IiV process you enjoy the opportunity to talk about your volunteering stories and The added value experiences. brought by volunteers

Thank you to all the volunteers, the staff who are supporting them and also to through their gift of our staff who are volunteering in their own time in their local communities. The time - whether in differences you are making to people‟s lives are often immeasurable but are so hospital or community much appreciated. healthcare settings - impacts positively not Professor Hazel Borland, only on our patients, Nurse Director, NHS Ayrshire & Arran but also on staff and on the volunteers themselves. A Day in the Life of a Volunteer

Ron Brown is a Hydrotherapy Volunteer, at the Arrol Park Resource Centre Become a volunteer in who has been volunteering for the Physiotherapy team there since and make a difference 1995, a grand total of 21 years! to our patients, staff –

and yourself! He volunteers every Wednesday morning from 9.00am until 1.00pm and says his first task is to collect the scones for the staff tea break! As well as

welcoming patients, Ron‟s main role is to manually turn the handle of the 1 hoist which raises patients to and from the pool. When chatting to the

patients while they are in the pool, he jokingly tells them “it costs nothing to Page go down, but costs two and sixpence to come up!”. He laughingly tells me he will leave money in his will to allow hydrotherapy to purchase an electric hoist; however they are going to have to wait a long time for that!

A Day in the Life of a Volunteer (Cont’d)

When asked how he came to volunteer, Ron explained that some years ago his wife used to have hydrotherapy treatment and he then discovered they were looking for volunteers. At that time Ron had been retired for 2 years and was looking for something to occupy his time, so he went along on the off chance and, as the saying goes, „the rest is history‟.

Ron was 62 years young when he started volunteering, and on celebrating his 80th birthday 3 years ago, the staff bought him a flying lesson at Airport. Ron was in the RAF in the early 1950s as a Radar Operator, flying in Vampires, Venoms and Meteor Aeroplanes, and was based at Coltishall, Norwich. This is now a prison and he reckons someone is trying to tell him something! Ron hard at work!

He gets a great deal of satisfaction from what he is doing, as he loves meeting people, and enjoys the camaraderie with both patients and staff. Ron gets a lot of pleasure from seeing patients‟ progress and getting fitter from their treatment. He has met and chatted with so many different people with diverse occupations, like deep sea diving. He feels rewarded when patients‟ thank him for his help, and tell him how much they have enjoyed chatting with him.

Ron says that when he first started volunteering, everyone seemed a lot older than him; however he now feels that he is the „old one‟, although he does not feel it, and intends to continue volunteering for many years to come! Margaret Milligan, Volunteer Reporter

NHS Staff Volunteering

Nicola McInroy has been working within NHS Ayrshire & Arran for 17 years, the last 7 as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner (Care of the Older Adult) based at Hospital. Margaret Milligan, Volunteer Reporter I first met Nicola when she and her volunteer friends from the Ladies Social Club were giving an 'Elvis' afternoon show for the patients in Rowallan Ward, Kirklandside. It was a brilliant afternoon; staff and patients loved it and joined in the fun.

Nicola joined Newmilns Ladies Social Club around 2009 and is currently Secretary; the members are all volunteers who fundraise to put on concerts & traditional entertainment for the older members of the local community. The club has been running for over 30 years and meets regularly on Monday evenings, in Newmilns Bowling Club in the summer and in members‟ homes out of season.

The Social Club puts on an annual concert in April for the older members of the community and included in the night is a two-course meal, 2 drinks per person, costumes, cabaret and gifts for all, for up to 80 attendees. Volunteers start early in the morning with prepping, cooking and serving the meals, while others decorate the Bowling Club. The night always has a different „theme‟ – previous show‟s themed nights have included The Drifters, Motown, Beatles, 50s & 60‟s night and, of course, Elvis. The group are not professional singers or performers, but once singing together, their confidence peaks and they put on brilliant performances The entertainment, meals, decorations and all sundries are bought from money raised by fundraising in the community including gala days and fun nights (70‟s/80‟s disco and Halloween disco).

The Newmilns Ladies Social Club is the longest running community group taking part in the Gala Day celebrations; this promotes a 'feel good factor' within the community. Nicola enjoys being part of the Newmilns community and finds the whole experience gives her 'a great sense of achievement' and

'makes me feel good'. 2

The Newmilns Ladies Social Club has around nine core members and a list of volunteers to call on but is Page always looking for new volunteers. If anyone is interested, please contact the President, Jane: 07891 214 728 or Secretary, Nicola: 07739 401 687. Lee Weipers, Volunteer Reporter

Staff experience of having volunteers NHS Ayrshire & Arran’s

Mhairi Munro is an Occupational Therapist working in Volunteering Improvement Group

Douglas Grant Rehabilitation Centre and organises the (VIG) (Membership includes NHS staff, Stroke Lifestyle Group. This group is the result of a volunteers and representatives from the Third collaboration between the NHS, the Chest, Heart & Stroke (CHS) charity as well as Health & Social Care Sector and Local Authority) services. As we near the end of 2016, we can reflect The Stroke Lifestyle Group runs twice yearly for up to back on the 2016 plan and say that all the tasks 10 stroke survivors, for 6 weeks sessions. It is not a identified at the beginning of the year have now 'drop in' group and is limited to 10 attendees. It soon been actioned with the majority of them became apparent to Mhairi that the Stroke Lifestyle completed. Significant 2016 milestones are the Group could benefit from additional support and thought development of Spotlight and a full review of that a volunteer was the way forward. our volunteering foundations which includes our policies and guidance handbooks for both staff Initially, she called Gill Rogers, PCC Officer and volunteers. Another significant Volunteering, for advice; however this coincided with development has been a DVD that supports Gill being off work for a while. So Mhairi decided to staff who are developing a volunteer role and have a look on AthenA (Intranet) to source information. recruiting to it. She printed off the Staff Handbook as well as the Recruitment process and Volunteer Introduction Three areas not planned for at the beginning of Checklist. Mhairi systematically worked her way through the year but the VIG has now agreed to take the paperwork. forward into 2017 are the:

One of the group‟s members, Ann-Margaret, who had 1. Use of a Volunteering Information System attended a block of 6 weeks of group meetings and had protocol where every quarter in time for the recently retired; she was also looking for a new VIG meetings, all staff responsible for challenge. With her personal experience of stroke and volunteers will be asked to confirm their the improvement in her health as well as the confidence volunteers details; gained from the meetings, it seemed to Mhairi that Ann- 2. Development of a new Ward volunteer role Margaret could make a perfect volunteer for the next that will provide patient companionship and group starting. So, both ladies got together to work on basic staff support. For volunteers who a volunteer role description. Once happy with it, Mhairi want to add to their skill set specialised asked HR for clearance checks confirmation and Health training will be offered at a later stage and & Safety for Risk Assessment advice. 3. Monitoring of our renewal of the Investing in Volunteering award. When both forms were final and the recruitment paperwork completed, Ann-Margaret became the first Stroke Lifestyle Group volunteer. So what does her role look like? Owing to the vagaries of public transport, some members of the Group arrive early for the meetings and Ann-Margaret is happy to arrive early too. She will meet and greet them, give them tea or coffee as well as complete their registration. This allows Mhairi and Tony Young (CHS Manager) to see clients or work on paperwork until the meeting starts at 10.00am. Members also benefit from having Ann-Margaret as she has experienced many of the issues affecting stroke survivors and can help with support and advice. Mhairi and Ann-Margaret

Overall this role benefits staff, the operation of the Stroke Lifestyle Group, its members and gives Ann- Margaret the opportunity to redevelop skills and provide support to all. But Mhairi also says it is important to provide support and advice to her volunteer to enable these benefits to happen.

Mhairi now has her sights set on another volunteer, from the next Stroke Lifestyle Group cohort, allowing Ann-Margaret to perhaps move on to a different volunteering opportunity within NHS Ayrshire & Arran.

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Once back to work, Gill congratulated Mhairi in taking the initiative: developing, creating and recruiting to a volunteer role with only paperwork to guide her. This was a massive achievement! However what this story

Page also shows is that staff can do this without Gill and that following the Staff Handbook works. Well done Mhairi! Lee Weipers, Volunteer Reporter

Volunteering Information System Red Cross Home from Hospital Service (VIS) (This database holds all our Direct At this year‟s NHS Ayrshire and Arran Achieves awards volunteers roles and volunteers’ details from ceremony, the Red Cross‟ Home from Hospital team enquiry to leaving) received the Chairman‟s Award – an award given to an individual or team who deserves special recognition for A recent check on the number of Placed the contribution they have made to the NHS. volunteers shows we have over 230 volunteers; much of this increase is as a The Ayrshire Home from Hospital Service helps result of the new Welcomer role at Woodland individuals who are medically fit for hospital discharge to View. We also have a further 14 applications return safely to their home. With the care of trained staff in progress. and volunteers, individuals are transported home from hospital in an ambulance and resettled into their home. The number of roles we have is also Follow up checks ensure that the safety and comfort of increasing and we now have over 30 active the individual is secured in those crucial few hours / roles. Many of our staff are recognising that days after hospital discharge. volunteering can provide opportunities for their service users and are creating Since the launch of the service in December 2014 it has volunteering roles within their areas. This gone from strength to strength, supporting nearly 4,000 enables service users to gain confidence people to settle at home whilst helping to prevent within a familiar environment before moving hospital admissions, delayed discharges and re- on to other volunteering roles. These other admissions. roles can be within NHS Ayrshire & Arran, maybe as a Hydrotherapy volunteer or in “What a great service you provide and I appreciated their local community, maybe at a lunch club. being taken home in one of your lovely ambulances by (You can read about one such service and two very kind people who took the trouble to see that my their new volunteer in our Stroke Lifestyle home was suitable for me and that I had sufficient food group volunteer article on page 3). etc in the house” (service user)

We have a growing team of dedicated volunteers that Robert Sommerville, are able to provide short term support to people that VIS Volunteer Administrator have recently been discharged from hospital. This might

include help with attending medical appointments,

Staff Charity Fundraising helping someone link in with services, clubs or groups in their area, providing some support around the home or The fundraising event for Macmillan Cancer just popping by for a good old natter. Support Scotland is held every year in Eglinton House at on the last The service operates from both University Hospitals Ayr Friday in September. With the help and and Crosshouse, 7 days a week. It is funded by the support of the reception staff, the event is Health and Social Care Partnerships in East, North and advertised by poster and emailed to office and has been a great example of staff within the building, about a month in collaboration between the Partnerships, the Acute advance. On the evening prior to the Hospitals and the Third Sector. Macmillan Coffee Morning the reception team volunteer to decorate the small If you would like to know more, or perhaps interested in community kitchen with Macmillan balloons, volunteering with us, please gives us a call at our Ayr buntings and matching table cloth. Then we Office – 01292 263946 - just ask for Rob, Steve or wait...... and it‟s amazing! Helen.

Food is bought, prepared, donated and Josaleen beautifully presented from before 9am and what a feast of sugar and chocolate – yum Connolly yum. So much food is donated that it lasts all who day with a few leftovers at 5pm.  helped organise This year, we introduced an alternative the healthier option with apples as well as books

and CDs available. Macmillan 4 event at

With thanks to everyone, we raised a total of Eglinton Page £140 which was sent to the Edinburgh Office House for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Woodland View Update

In May 2016, the Volunteering Improvement Group (VIG) was nominated in the Building Community Capacity category of the Achieves awards. The VIG is made up of NHS staff and Third Sector Interface representatives. All members were really pleased to be recognised in this way - especially so for the volunteers who are part of the new Ayrshire Central Hospital Volunteers Shop and the Welcome desk both of which are situated in the Woodland View facility.

This nomination was however just the beginning of the awards process which would find two VIG representatives at the Awards ceremony waiting to find out if they were winners. Firstly, a presentation on the progress achieved by the Woodland View VIG had to be created. This was supported by North Ayrshire Council in the form of a „Presenting with passion‟ workshop. All attending VIG members learned a lot, especially some interesting tongue twisters, as well as gaining confidence in their written and verbal presentation skills.

Following this training, all competing projects were invited to attend a Showcase event to which senior management and council officials were invited to view all the projects. There was a lot of interest in our table - even though we had no home baking! Many people commented on the timescale within which we had both the Shop and Welcome desk up and running as well as the numbers of volunteers recruited.

At the end of September, Linsey Stobo, Jessie Mitchell and Linda Jones jointly presented our Woodland View volunteering project to a panel of judges. Some of our volunteers‟ stories and quotes were used to highlight what volunteering means to them and Jessie even tried recruiting some of the panellists as volunteers! However all fingers were crossed from this point as to whether we could win or not.

The VIG members felt that regardless of the outcome on the awards night, the project was still a winner in their eyes. But it also turned out the panel judges thought it was too. Linsey and Jessie, the VIG representatives at the awards evening, had an amazing night with Jessie adding „our Volunteers will be delighted‟.

Well done to all the Shop and Welcome desk volunteers; this award could not have been won without you. Many thanks.

Investing in Volunteers Award Renewal

In October 2010, NHS Ayrshire and Arran achieved the Investing in Volunteers [IiV] award for the first time. Accreditation was renewed in April 2014, and we are now starting to prepare for the second renewal assessment.

To renew the award, NHS Ayrshire & Arran needs to continue to demonstrate commitment to high quality volunteer management. Over recent years, staff have developed new roles for volunteers and updated ways of working with volunteers. The purpose of the IiV assessment is to gather evidence that high standards of volunteers‟ management are still being achieved throughout the Board.

Renewing the IiV award will require the support of everyone; volunteers, staff and Board members. The target date for the renewal assessment is summer 2017.

The IiV assessor needs to meet a range of people including new and more experienced volunteers from the various volunteer roles available. Some volunteers may have been included in the last assessment and may be selected again to meet the assessor. It‟s important to remember that it is the organisation that is being assessed, never the volunteers, and that the volunteers‟ stories are a hugely important part of the assessment process.

After meeting with staff and volunteers, the assessor will prepare a report for the next UK wide Quality Assurance panel. Assuming the panel recommends a renewal of the IiV award, NHS Ayrshire & Arran will be able to continue using the IiV logo and also receive a new plaque to show they are still recognised

among the very best of volunteers‟ managers.

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Anne Hislop, Page Investing in Volunteers Manager, Volunteer Scotland

Volunteering in the Voluntary Sector Ayrshire Achieves

„Volunteer of the Year‟ is one of the nine award Our voluntary sector partners in East, North and South Ayrshire also have a variety of volunteer categories in NHS Ayrshire & Arran‟s Ayrshire roles that might interest you. You can contact them Achieves Awards Scheme and there were joint direct to find out more about the roles they have to winners of the „Volunteer of the Year‟ award at offer. the Ayrshire Achieves 2016 awards ceremony.

Volunteer Centre East Ayrshire Alice Hewitt, a Hospital volunteer in the cafe in Email: [email protected] University Hospital Crosshouse. Alice has been Call: 01563 544765 volunteering at the hospital for around 15 years and Stephen McLean who is a volunteer peer The Ayrshire Community Trust (North Ayrshire) worker with the South Ayrshire Addiction Team Email: [email protected] who has drawn on relationships developed in his Call: 01294 443044 own recovery and became involved in a dental

Voluntary Action South Ayrshire pilot run by the Oral Health Promotion Team. Email: [email protected] S potlight Challenge Call: 01292 437335

In our last issue we challenged readers to show The Participation Network us where they had been seen to be reading their

NHS Ayrshire & Arran supports a virtual group of Spotlight newsletter. So here‟s Lee enjoying a patients, carers, members of the public and drink in a wee night club in Calpe, north of community groups who have an interest in health Alicante, Spain who after a lazy day by the pool then got dressed up for a 'girls' night out. and social care services. The group is known as the Participation Network. Group members are Editor’s comment – volunteer dedication provided with information and opportunities on a spreading the news in this way  wide variety of health related topics based on their interest areas and volunteers are very welcome to join NHS Ayrshire & Arran‟s Participation Network.

Every member of the Participation Network also receives a member‟s card which they can use to Cheers access discounts and special offers from a variety Lee! of businesses and services across Ayrshire.

If you are interested in finding out more about the Participation Network please email [email protected] or telephone 01563 575416.

Editorial Group info Quote

The Editorial Group comprises: Margaret Milligan (Volunteer), Never underestimate your ability Lee Weipers (Volunteer), Gill Rogers and Carole Thomson. to make someone else’s life

If you have any suggestions on future content for this better – even if you never know Newsletter, please contact Gill Rogers – contact details below. it.’ – Greg Louganis

Please note: 6

All articles are either written or edited and approved by volunteers. This means there may be errors and/or Page misinterpretation. If this does happen, please let us know by contacting Gill Rogers by email [email protected] or phone 01292 513669.