Volunteering

Volunteers add that all-important ‘extra’ to the care and treatment provided to our patients by our multidisciplinary team of professionals in our wards and departments.

There are currently over 300 volunteers with placements in the Trust supporting patients and the work of our hospitals.

Why do people volunteer?

  • To be an active member of their local community
  • To give something back to society
  • To support their local hospital
  • To use existing skills and to develop new ones
  • To meet people and to make friends
  • For personal development
  • To gain experience of a medical environment

What do volunteers do at the Trust?
Our volunteers carry out a wide variety of roles, such as:

  • Helping on our information desks
  • Welcoming patients at the main entrance of our hospitals
  • Supporting patients in our outpatient chemotherapy
    units and general outpatient departments
  • Making nutritious drinks for patients on the wards
  • Helping in our Friends shops and refreshment areas
  • Helping to run our confectionery/newspaper trolley, radio station and library trolley
  • Lunchtime helpers on wards
  • Supporting the chaplains with patient visits
  • Helping out at the Alexander Fleming Museum at St Mary’s Hospital

How do I apply to become a volunteer?
Due to high demand, we are unfortunately unable to accept new applications for volunteering at the moment. Thank you for your interest. We will update this page when the situation changes, so please do keep checking back. 

Other ways to get involved
Learning for Work training and recruitment programme
If you are finding it difficult to secure paid employment, for example due to disability or a medical condition, you may benefit from flexible and tailored work experience alongside career guidance and one-to-one support via our Learning for Work programme.

Volunteer for a charity
Another way you can volunteer for us is by donating some time to the charities operating at our hospitals. These include the Friends of Charing Cross Hospital, Friends of Hammersmith Hospital and Friends of St Mary’s, and Imperial College Healthcare Charity, which manages and raises charitable funds for all five hospitals within the Trust.  

The Friends are independent charitable and voluntary organisations. The Friends run shops and/or refreshment facilities at several of our hospitals and would be interested in hearing from anyone who has a few hours a week to help out.

Imperial College Healthcare Charity welcomes volunteer fundraisers.