The whole team, everyone matters
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Volunteer Guard of Honour
A Guard of Honour has taken place on three of our sites to thank the hundreds of volunteers who played an integral role within the health service during the height of the pandemic. Staff at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, and Royal Alexandra Hospital lined up in traditional fashion to celebrate the hard work and dedication of volunteers who have worked across the service in a variety of roles. Recognised by their bright red T-shirts, volunteers have helped ensure NHSGGC has been able to continue delivering person-centred care to patients throughout the pandemic. Answering a national call for support, some of the key duties have included:
- Staffing the Give and Go drop off points, which enabled friends and relatives to drop of essential personal items to patients during visiting restrictions. To date the team has delivered more than 12,000 parcels across sites, clocking up 3,000 hours of volunteer time.
- Welcoming staff, patients and visitors and signposting appropriately while ensuring everyone entering a hospital site used hand sanitiser.
- Distributing PPE to staff, patients and visitors throughout the pandemic.
- Distributing the many donations which flooded in from the public and from businesses.
While many staff are now returning to their previous roles outside the health service, a number have remained in post as we continue scaling up and restarting services.
Harry Balch, Volunteer Manager, said: “Every single volunteer has made a huge contribution to our efforts in combatting the virus and we’re extremely thankful to all of them for their hard work. They have made an immeasurable difference and from day one and became an integral part of our service in response to the pandemic.
“As the volunteer services begin to wind down in line with a reduction in COVID-19 cases, we will look to retain some of the team in certain roles to help us provide information and guidance to patients engaging with the health service which has undergone such change over a short period of time.
“Once again I’d like to extend a sincere thank you to everyone who has played such an important role in ensuring we have been able to continue delivering high-quality and person centred care during this period.”
