Helping hands get together to guide hospital visitors to their destinations

Employees from a well-known county company have joined forces with volunteers to lend a helping hand to patients and visitors to Lincolnshire’s hospitals.

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Local gas turbine manufacturer Siemens runs a scheme encouraging its staff to take part in local volunteering opportunities, and United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust’s (ULHT) voluntary services team has already signed up 10 employees who are interested in trying their hands.

The Trust has just launched its new ‘meet and greet’ corridor guide initiative, which sees troops of volunteers strategically stationed at mobile hubs around its hospitals, to help point patients and visitors in the right direction.

Siemens worker Julie Hannam was one of the first to sign up and said she really enjoyed getting involved.

“I’m a really sociable and friendly person and I thought it was a great thing to do,” she said.

“I was greeting people and asking them if I could help before they got to main reception and people are so appreciative of the assistance and guidance to the different clinics.”

Nigel Johnson, Head of Engineering at Siemens in Lincoln said:  “It’s a great way to give something back.  Every year, each of our 1,500 employees are given two volunteering days to get involved with the local community.

“It’s part of our corporate social responsibility programme and commitment to ensure we are supporting a sustainable future for coming generations, with respect to the environment, our business and society.

“We’re delighted to be involved with ULHT and it’s excellent to see Julie and the rest of our team enjoying the opportunity to make a difference as volunteers.”

On the first day of launching the new ‘meet and greeters’ at Lincoln County Hospital, the volunteers helped an impressive 197 patients and visitors and even handed out information packs to a number of people interested in becoming volunteers.

ULHT Voluntary Services Manager, Andrew Tysoe said:  “It’s been a really positive start to the launch of our corridor guide volunteers.

“Ideally we’d like to have 60 of them operating across our three main hospital sites, Boston, Grantham and Lincoln.

“Our hospitals are big places and people can easily get lost, so having a friendly and welcoming face to greet you at the entrance can make all the difference and it also helps to take some of the pressure off the busy workers on the reception desks.”

For more information on becoming a corridor guide at ULHT, or volunteering in general, visit the Trust website at www.ulh.nhs.uk/jobs/volunteering/#videos