Would you like to find out about WRVS volunteering opportunitites in Powys ? Would you like to try something, but not sure what you would like to do ? Meals on wheels, Comunity transport, befriending, clubs, lunch clubs, hospital clubs are just some of the things that we do within Powys.

Ring Gail for a chat on 01597 811278

WRVS helps older people stay independent at home and active in their local community. About 45,000 volunteers make a huge difference to the lives of the 100,000 older people we support each month across the UK.

In addition to community-based Good Neighbours Schemes, lunch and social clubs, home library services, community transport schemes and recovery and resilience volunteers, WRVS runs shops, cafés and patient support services in 450 hospitals nationwide. Last year, we donated over £6 million back to hospitals to provide patient services and medical equipment. The total gifted back to hospitals by WRVS over the years is well over £50 million and the money came from profits made in our hospital shops and cafés.

Nationally, in excess of 6,000 volunteering hours were spent supporting older people at home who had recently come out of hospital. We have a team of over 1,000 volunteers who welcome and guide people in 36 hospitals around the country. We provide over 200 services in hospital wards and care homes to offer patient refreshment and top-up shopping through our trolley services.

In Wales, as elsewhere, we are also active in contributing to debates affecting the lives of older people. We work with elected representatives (particularly Members of the Welsh Government), civil servants and voluntary groups to shape the development of policy and to help make Wales a great place to grow old.


Providing services

The support offered by WRVS is personal, practical and preventative; it is not nursing care, but it helps people stay safe and well and can reduce isolation. Our aim is to:

help older people remain socially connected and involved in the community
provide practical help in homes to help manage disability
improve nutrition
signpost people to sources of information that help them get access to the services and support that they need.

The Older People's Enquiry conducted by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in 2005, entitled "That Little Bit of Help" identified that older people valued support to help them live in their own homes and one of the areas highlighted was befriending services. In addition, it was discovered that services supporting the older person after they returned home from a stay in hospital were also highly valued and helped to regain independence.

Our service proposals are based around these key observations and focus upon befriending, both before hospital admission and after discharge. The intention is to make the person feel less isolated and lonely, which should lead to them making a better recovery upon returning home.

We would like to link up existing services to develop cost-effective, linked-to-health services to the local community by the local community and to help to bridge the gap between health and local government social services provision.

Our support is based upon our new model which links existing hospital and community-based support to create a more integrated service.

The duration of the service provision and the tailored package of assistance will depend upon the needs of the person and will be flexible and imaginative in order to achieve the individual outcomes required.

As the new service delivery model is rolled out across Wales and the rest of the UK, a needs analysis will be undertaken for each locality area to ensure that there is no duplication, that any service ?gaps? are identified and that appropriate partnerships may be facilitated.



We will seek to engage with as many organisations as possible to ensure that the services offered are complementary and are not in competition with existing provision. Although the support identified below is not, at this stage, a definitive list our service provision will include some or all of the following:

Health settings:

volunteers can support an older person before a visit in hospital by, for example, arranging care for their pets, giving lifts to the doctor or driving and accompanying them to a hospital appointment, thus reducing non-attendance.
when an older person comes out of hospital, they can need more intensive support than usual to help get them back on their feet. A WRVS volunteer can make a daily visit and can help with anything from making sure they have a healthy meal, walking the dog, helping with the garden or collecting shopping or prescriptions. They can provide a vital link between the older person and the outside world at a time when they are still recovering from an accident or illness.
if an older person has had to attend hospital in the evening and faces the option of being admitted just because there is no-one to be with them overnight at home, a volunteer can accompany them home and stay overnight until assistance is arranged by healthcare professionals.
a volunteer driver/escort can transport people home from later hospital clinic appointments when non-emergency ambulance transport may not be available.
Patient support:

WRVS volunteers already run welcome/information desks for visitors in hospitals and ward trolley rounds offering refreshments and convenience items to patients
they also provide "meet and greet" or "welcoming" services
we are training our volunteers to offer befriending to older people on the ward, particularly when family live far away or friends can only visit during the evenings and weekends. They may read to patients, chat to them or pop down to the hospital shop to fetch a newspaper.
some hospitals are asking our volunteers to provide support and company at "ward lunch clubs", where longer term or less mobile patients are encouraged by staff to take their meals at a central table where social interaction as well as good nutrition can help with recovery.
volunteers can attend evening clinics to serve refreshments and provide company to patients during their wait to see a health professional.

Hospital shops and cafés:

our shops provide convenient and good value refreshment for patients, visitors and staff and our cafés provide a welcoming place to take a break. Volunteers take the time to chat to customers, offering a sympathetic ear, a kind word and reassurance to people who may feel very vulnerable and distressed.
over £6 million was raised last year through sales in our shops, cafés and ward trolleys and gifted back to hospitals to improve services and equipment for older people in that hospital and community. The more opportunities we have to raise money within the hospital environment, the more gifting is available for the funding of other health-related services.

Summary

Older people who have opportunities to leave their homes, meet others and engage in activities can lead fuller lives. Volunteers can often identify whether an individual is at risk or whether their conditions have deteriorated. As people get older they experience life events eg the loss of a husband/wife/partner that can impact on their health and well-being.

Volunteer support from befriending is a key way in which the wider community as well as statutory services can keep in touch with these changes in circumstance and provide the basis for any necessary intervention by health and social care services. It can provide the crucial insight that can then inform busy health and social care professionals.