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. 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 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 Midlothian Community Hospital This hospital provide rehabilitation (over 60s), continuing care of frail elderly, palliative/end of life care, dementia care, and mental health care. Ward Helper volunteers are needed to support the wards in the following ways: chat to patients to provide mental stimulation and reduce boredom; serve teas and coffees to patients; top up patients’ water jugs; distribute food to patients at mealtimes; support the cleaning up of dishes and cutlery; interact with patient visitors; help out with any ad-hoc tasks on the ward as directed by staff. East Lothian Community Hospital The East Lothian Community Hospital (ELCH) is a three-story hospital based on the grounds of the former Roodlands hospital site in Haddington. The hospital has 6 inpatient wards and a busy outpatients department. The wards have a variety of specialities including supporting people living with dementia and mental illness, orthopaedic rehabilitation, medicine of the elderly, step down care and palliative care. Ward Helper volunteers are needed to support the wards in the following ways: chat to patients to provide mental stimulation and reduce boredom; serve teas and coffees to patients; top up patients’ water jugs; distribute food to patients at mealtimes; support the cleaning up of dishes and cutlery; interact with patient visitors; help out with any ad-hoc tasks on the ward as directed by staff. Ferryfield House (Edinburgh) This community hospital is for older people with dementia or mental health conditions who need care and treatment that can only be given in a hospital or specialist NHS unit. Meaningful Activity volunteers are required to provide patients with social stimulation and company. This will involve trying to engage patients in games and social activities on the ward, although sometimes all that is needed is a friendly chat. It would be beneficial to have volunteers who can bring their own passions and hobbies to the ward (like music, reading, or beauty, for example) and integrate these into patient interactions. St John’s Hospital (West Lothian) Discharge Lounge volunteers will support patients who have been discharged to the Discharge Lounge to wait for relatives or the Ambulance service to take them home. The volunteer role helps to keep patients motivated and boost confidence in getting home, giving out drinks and snacks and lunch while they wait. Good communications skills in chatting and listening are essential. Therapet Support Visit volunteers will support Canine Concern volunteers to provide a dog therapy service across many wards in St John’s. It provides comfort and relaxation for the patients and the staff love the visits too. We need dog lovers who can go into the ward 1 hour before the visit and then stay with the Therapet during the visit to help with checklists and identifying patients who have agreed to see the dog. A love of dogs would be of an advantage. Ward Visitor volunteers would be based in Ward 8 & 9 (medicine of the elderly wards) and Ward 14 (Orthopaedics). Providing a listening ear to older people who maybe don’t have many visitors, to provide company and help alleviate fear of being in hospital particularly if they are experiencing dementia. Good communications skills, in chatting and listening are essential, an experience of Dementia or working with older people would be an advantage but not essential. Out Patient Dept (OPD) Assistant volunteers will welcome patients and visitors, show them around the dept for their appointments, keep people company while they wait, handover notes to clinicians and give out hearing aid batteries (OPD4). Good communications skills is essential. Welcome guide volunteers welcome all patients and visitors to St John’s Hospital main reception. They give directions, take people to wards/depts., arrange for portering services to assist patients with wheelchairs and help to collect pharmacy orders etc. Good communication skills, great sense of direction, reasonable memory and able to maintain standing or walking throughout the shift. Ward Helper volunteers provide support to staff and patients in the form of tasks based mostly around lunchtime. Good communication skills are essential. Volunteer with NHS Lothian Charity We are currently recruiting volunteers to support our Tonic Arts Programme and our green spaces across NHS Lothian. Do you have an interest in art? Would you like to combine that with supporting the patients and staff of NHS Lothian? Our art collection volunteer role could be for you. The NHS Lothian Charity Tonic Arts programme makes hospitals and other NHS sites more welcoming and engaging and supports the reduction of stress and distress though art and therapeutic design projects that bring art in art of all kinds. As a result the programme manages an art collection of over 2,500 works. We are looking for volunteers to help manage that collection that are on display by checking and recording the condition of the artworks, frames and interpretation panels. For those interested there will also be a chance to combine this with work to support patient and staff engagement activities such as art walks and talks. Do you have an interest in gardening and green spaces? The Green Health Programme run by NHS Lothian Charity focuses on making hospital gardens and outdoor spaces beneficial for everyone – patients, staff, and visitors. We know spending time in nature is good for our health, so the Charity work to keep these spaces beautiful and accessible. Whether someone is walking in the garden or looking out a window, we want them to feel comfortable and relaxed. We also care deeply about protecting nature. Our gardening work helps support local wildlife and plant diversity. As a volunteer, you’ll be a key part of maintaining these spaces in a way that’s good for both people and the environment. We are recruiting volunteer gardeners to support this work across the following sites/days/times: Astley Ainslie Hospital – Monday – Wednesday, opportunities available between 9am-5pm Western General Hospital – Monday – Friday, opportunities available between 9am-5pm Royal Edinburgh Hospital – Monday – Wednesday, opportunities available between 9am-5pm Midlothian Community Hospital – Monday – Friday, opportunities available between 9am-5pm If you are interested in finding out more or applying to these opportunities, please email Loth.VolunteerEnquiries@nhs.scot 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 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. 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 19th October 2025 between 2-4pm Alternatively visit us at Radio Lollipop – Play In Place Of Pain or email us at vcnew.edinburgh@radiolollipop.org.
