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Purpose of this role

Our Supportive Care team help patients, carers, family members, children, or close friends to cope emotionally and practically when a diagnosis of cancer or another life-changing illness is received. Support is tailored to the needs of each patient and family, drawing expertise from our four specialist teams.

It’s a really busy team, and they get a constant stream of emails into their inbox that need dealing with as quickly as possible. We are looking for volunteers who are happy to cover ad-hoc shifts to make sure that the inbox is being monitored at all times. We would expect there to be a rota set up a month in advance, and each volunteer can slot themselves into it.

Main tasks
Volunteers in this role may take on a range of tasks, which may include all or some of those below:

• monitoring the Supportive care email inbox (Microsoft Outlook) and responding promptly to emails
• making telephone calls to clients, which may include dealing with cancellations and appointments and holding calls to let them know they are on the waiting list
• carrying out status checks on our clinical database prior to volunteer visits
• making telephone calls to Supportive Care volunteers to update them about appointments, cancellations etc.
• entering accurate information into the clinical database
• monitoring volunteer hours
• following up any outstanding paperwork that volunteers need to complete
• making room bookings
• dealing with general admin enquiries via email or phone
• entering and updating appointments accurately onto the lone worker diary and taking calls from volunteers to confirm that they have left a client’s home
• managing and responding to patient related calls in a calm and professional manner

What are we looking for?

• the ability to follow a process carefully and with a high degree of accuracy
• someone with good Microsoft skills, including Word, Excel and Outlook
• the ability to work independently and in a busy office
• a good quality of written English
• the confidence to answer and make calls, as required and with support

Training and support

• there will be a named line manager who will provide ongoing support
• there will be some mandatory training that you will need to complete at the start of your volunteering with us and then periodically afterwards as refresher training
• we will ask you to complete an online data security training module to help with your understanding of data protection and confidentiality
• your line manager will organise training specific to your role

What you need to know

• you will complete a volunteer application form, and we will need to see a form of ID before you get started
• we welcome everyone and will make reasonable adjustments should they be needed
• we will pay reasonable expenses incurred, should you wish to claim them
• we rely on the commitment of our volunteers to support our services; however, we understand that you may sometimes need to take a break from your volunteering. When you are ready to return, your line manager will meet with you to talk about the role and make sure it is still right for you and may ask you to complete some refresher training.

For more information, please contact the volunteering team on 01727 731020 (Grove House, St Albans), or 01923 330330 (Peace Hospice, Watford), volunteers@renniegrovepeace.org