Volunteering Opportunities

Welcome to our volunteering opportunities webpage!

This is where you can read about all the volunteering roles available across NHS Lothian. Whether you are looking to volunteer at a large hospital or would prefer to volunteer at a smaller community hospital, we have you covered.

Please use the dropdowns below to find out information about the sites you can volunteer at across NHS Lothian and the roles available at each site. You may be pleasantly surprised to find that there are sites close to your home/work/school that you were not aware of! To find out all about the different tasks and activities you can get involved in as a volunteer, you can download the role descriptions available at each site too.

Got question? Check out our volunteering FAQs page which answers some of the most commonly asked questions about volunteering with us.

Please note that to volunteer with us you need to:

Be aged 16 or over (for some roles this is 18 or over)
Be able to make a regular weekly commitment for two or more hours a week at the same time and day each week (exception of Bridge Builder volunteers)
Volunteer with us for a minimum of six months
Receive and share with us satisfactory appropriate clearance from Disclosure Scotland (this is completed by us as part of your application, you do not need to pay for this yourself)
Where applicable receive occupational health clearance for agreed role
Actively participate and engage in our volunteer induction training

Current Hospital Based Volunteering Opportunities

Our volunteer recruitment will open from Wednesday 25 February 2026 until Monday 9 March 2026 for volunteer roles across the following locations:

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh

Western General Hospital

St John’s Hospital

Further information including roles available, interview and training dates will be added here by Friday 06 February.

Opportunities to take part in Clinical Research Trials

Our Clinical Infection Research Group (CiRG) facilitates research studies for a range of common UK infections e.g., flu and COVID. Many of these studies require volunteers aged 18-99 to take part for example in testing different interventions, e.g., vaccines or sharing experiences.

For more information about taking part in clinical research trials you can email CiRG at Loth.CIRGregister@nhs.scot or you can find out more at www.cirg-edinburgh.co.uk

Volunteering Opportunities with our Third Sector Partners

Within this space we will share the details of any of our third sector charity partners who are recruiting to volunteering roles which are based within or as part of NHS Lothian services or buildings.

Volunteer with RNID’s Near You Service

Volunteers supporting RNID will make a valuable difference to people who are deaf, have hearing loss or tinnitus. Any contribution you make as a volunteer, no matter how small, can have a big impact on the people we support in communities across Edinburgh & Lothians.

To find out more about their current opportunities with the Near You service follow the link below:

RNID Near You volunteer, Lothians/Edinburgh – RNID

Volunteer at the Children’s Hospital with Radio Lollipop

One in four children are admitted to a hospital before reaching age 14.

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Radio Lollipop believes in the healing power of play – providing smiles and laughter to children at a time when they need it most. Though some patients are short-stay, many have a recurring need for care and return repeatedly to hospital. Some who are terminally ill spend much of their short lives in hospital. Radio Lollipop gives young patients a voice and a choice during their stay. While they can´t say “no” to taking their medicine or receiving treatment, they can request their favourite songs, win prizes and hear their own voices on the radio. Those activities give youngsters a haven of normality in the hospital day which in other respects is strange, different and often scary. Each Radio Lollipop Volunteer must be aged 18 or older and able to give a commitment of 2 hours per week of interactive play with children using a comprehensive range of fun and interactive activities developed over the years by Radio Lollipop.

A broadcast radio studio is part of the armory of activities in our “toy box” and is provided at most of the hospitals where the Radio Lollipop service operates, providing a unique child-orientated programme of interactive competitions, music, stories and games.

If you want to be part of the magic that is Radio Lollipop and putting Play In Place of Pain for children spending time in hospital, come along to one of our volunteer information days at Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, Ground Floor, Out Patients, 50 Little France Crescent Edinburgh EH16 4TJ on:

Sunday 25 January 2026, from 2pm to 4pm.

Alternatively visit us at Radio Lollipop – Play In Place Of Pain or email us at vcnew.edinburgh@radiolollipop.org.