Long serving volunteers at Stepping Hill Hospital were honoured for their time, work hard and dedication at their annual long service awards.
Adrian Belton, Chair of Stockport NHS Foundation Trust which runs the hospital, led the award ceremony and presented certificates and award badges to thank volunteers for their years of service at the event held at the hospital’s restaurant. Chief Nurse Alison Lynch was also present to thank the volunteers.
Over four hundred volunteers work at the trust in a number of wards and departments, working in twenty nine different roles. These include greeting and guiding patients and visitors when they first visit the hospital, helping out on wards at mealtimes, carrying out experience surveys, serving in the hospital’s shops and supporting mothers with breastfeeding. More recently volunteers with pet therapy dogs have been visiting wards to help patients calm and relax. Taken together the hospital’s volunteers work over 2800 hours every month.
Twenty-four volunteers were honoured, with seventeen of them present at the awards. Each volunteer had served either five, ten, twenty or thirty years of service at the hospital. Tribute was also paid to those volunteers who had sadly passed away, and those who had retired due to ill health.
Adrian Belton, Chair of Stockport NHS Foundation Trust said, “Our volunteers work in an incredibly diverse number of ways to help our patients and their families and carers, and to support our workforce too. The commitment they show is amazing and they are a truly valued part of our trust, so it was a real pleasure to thank all our volunteers at these awards, and especially our most long serving volunteers. ”
