Volunteer at the hospice

Volunteers play a vital role at the hospice

Barnsley Hospice is a charity and every volunteer who gives their time and skill to support us plays a vital role in keeping our running costs down.

This ensures we can spend as much of the money raised for us as possible on patient care.

Volunteers are also a much-valued part of our hospice family and work alongside staff to create a welcoming environment at our hospice; support patient services; help organise community fundraising events; run our retail hub, and connect with local businesses.

Did you know?

Our services are all free to patients and their families. Barnsley Hospice is a charity and our services are fully-funded by the donations of our generous supporters, plus an annual NHS grant.

Your community hospice is run by a board of trustees who volunteer their time to help ensure the charity and all our services are well managed. Each brings different areas of expertise to their role.

Over wonderful volunteers help to raise funds, run our retail hub, support campaigns and help with the day-to-day running of the hospice. We could NOT do what we do without them.

The hospice is a charity. We do receive an NHS grant which contributes to our running costs, but we rely on our generous supporters to fund all of our services.

At the same time, our 180 volunteers say they learn new skills, make new friends and enjoy working together as part of one big happy team. We also want them to feel very proud that they are helping to support and sustain the specialist compassionate palliative care services we provide for the people of Barnsley.

For information about volunteering, please contact the team at volunteering@barnsley-hospice.org or on 01226 244 244.

Volunteer roles at the hospice

The roles our volunteers carry out are essential to the daily running of the hospice. For example:

volunteering at our hospice retail hub, taking and sorting donations and supporting sales.
gardening, to maintain our beautiful and relaxing hospice gardens for patients and families
helping with facilities management jobs, to support the upkeep of our building
supporting our events and fundraising team by helping with mail-outs, marshalling, parking, raffles, refreshments and more
collecting our collection boxes from businesses and venues across the borough and counting all those pennies
supporting our patient services, for example, bu helping at meal-times and in the general upkeep of pleasant patient environment.

Other opportunities

we also love to hear from you if you have a particular skill or talent you think would help the charity and would like to volunteer your time and expertise
and we welcome approaches from businesses about organising one-off group volunteer activities as part of CSR commitments and team-building

How to apply to be a volunteer

If interested in becoming a volunteer, please download and complete the application form below and email it to volunteering@barnsley-hospice.org. Or, collect a paper copy of this form from our hospice reception or our retail hub.

Application-Form-Hospice-Volunteers Download

If there is a volunteer opportunity to suit you, you’ll be invited to a short, friendly interview and we’ll take it from there. We’d love to accept everyone straight away as a volunteer, but there are certain processes we have to go through before you can join our team. If you have any queries, please call the team on 01226 244 244.

Current volunteer vacancies

We are currently working with existing volunteers to review all our volunteering activities as we come out of the coronavirus pandemic and are not advertising for new vacancies at the moment, but please watch this space.

FAQs

How old do I have to be to become a hospice volunteer?

We can accept volunteers from the age of 16 plus at our retail hub or 14plus if you are taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh scheme. At the hospice itself, volunteers can be accepted from age 16 plus. For roles involving contact with patients, you must be over 18.

Can I volunteer for a one-off event or a short period of time?

Yes, some of our volunteers help at particular events and fundraisers for set periods of time, for example over the summer holidays. State your availability on your application form or contact the team at volunteering@barnsley-hospice.org or on 01226 244 244.

Can I volunteer as part of my Duke of Edinburgh Award?

Yes, we have organised voluntary experience with several young people working towards their DoE awards. Please state this on your application form or contact volunteering@barnsley-hospice.org or on 01226 244 244.

Do I need a DBS background check to become a hospice volunteer?

Yes, we will organise this for you if you join our team of volunteers in support of the hospice. If you have any queries about this please contact volunteering@barnsley-hospice.org or on 01226 244 244.

Can I organise a volunteer work placement at the hospice?

We have volunteer placements for work experience at our hospice. To find out more, please get in touch with the team at volunteering@barnsley-hospice.org or on 01226 244 244.

Get in touch

If you would like more information about volunteering, please contact the team at volunteering@barnsley-hospice.org or on 01226 244 244.