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:

St John’s Hospital (West Lothian, EH54 6PP)

St John’s Hospital offer a range of volunteer roles, Monday to Sunday in the mornings, afternoons and evenings. We are recruiting 35 volunteers across the following roles.

Ward Visitors: Roles available Monday to Sunday from 2pm to 4pm. This is a befriending role within our Medicine of the Elderly wards which may have some Dementia patients, offering a chance for patients to have some company to help reduce anxiety and boredom while being in hospital. This role would suit anyone with good communication and listening skills and who is able to start and hold a conversation.

Ward Helpers: General wards have slots available, Monday to Sunday from 11.30am to 1.30pm or from 4.30pm to 6.30pm. This role is task orientated helping staff and patients with day-to-day activities like: changing water jugs, helping at mealtimes and chatting with patients to help reduce anxiety and boredom.

We are also recruiting ward helpers to some specific wards at following days and times:

Maternity: Available Monday to Sunday, from 1pm to 3pm or 4pm to 6pm.
Gynaecology: Available Monday to Friday, from 8.30am to 11.30am or 4pm to 6pm.

Accident and Emergency: Available Monday to Sunday, from 12.30pm to 2.30pm or 4pm to 6pm.
Oncology: Available Monday to Friday, from 9.30am to 12.30pm only.

Outpatient Department (OPD) Assistant Volunteer: Available Monday to Friday, from 9am to 12pm only. This role supports the staff and patients attending outpatient appointments and includes chatting to patients while they wait and guiding them around the department.

Therapet Support Visit Volunteers: Available Monday to Friday, from 2pm to 4pm only. This role is to support Canine Concern Therapet visits to St John’s Hospital and is suitable for people who love dogs and can be free in the afternoons during the week when the visits take place.

Discharge Lounge Volunteer: Available Monday to Friday, from 10am to 1pm or 1pm to 4pm or 4pm to 6pm. This role supports patients who are waiting to be discharged from the hospital.

Welcome Guides: Available Monday to Friday, from 9am to 12pm or 12pm to 3pm. This is an active role which requires regular movement throughout the hospital.

Meaningful Activity Volunteers: roles are available across the following areas:

Mother & Baby Unit: Available Monday to Sunday, from 10am to 12pm or 2pm to 4pm.
Meaningful Activity Centre (Dementia Unit): Available Monday to Friday, from 10am to 12pm or 2pm to 4pm.
Ward 17 (Adult Psychiatry): Available Monday to Sunday, from 2pm to 4pm only.
Regional Eating Disorders Unit (REDU): Available Monday to Sunday, from 1pm to 3pm only.

Volunteer Driver (Marie Curie Wellbeing Group): Available on Wednesdays from 12.30pm only. Volunteer drivers must have their own car and would be required to pick up and drop off patients to and from their home to St John’s Hospital for a 4-week wellbeing course. The patients supported are receiving palliative care are unable to self-travel to the hospital.

Interviews and Training for these roles will be held on the following days and times, please ensure you can attend at least one interview date and one training date before you apply as alternatives are not available.

Interviews:

Wednesday 25th March, from 2pm to 4pm, in person at St John’s Hospital.
Friday 27th March, from 10am to 12pm, in person at St John’s Hospital.
Friday 27th March, from 2pm to 4pm, in person at St John’s Hospital.
Monday 30th March, from 11am to 1pm, in person at St John’s Hospital.

Training:

Friday 10th April, from 1pm to 4pm, in person at St John’s Hospital.
Monday 13th April, from 1pm to 4pm, in person at St John’s Hospital.

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (EH16 4SA)

We are recruiting for 40 new volunteers at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Please note this does not include the Department of Clinical Neurosciences.

We are looking for 34 Ward Helper volunteers for the following wards: Surgery, Orthopaedics, Maternity, Medicine of the Elderly, Respiratory, Hepatology, General Medicine and Acute Medical.

We would love to hear from you if you are available to support our wards during the hours of 10am to 12.30pm, but can take some applications for those looking to volunteer from 4.30pm to 6.30pm.

We are looking for 4 Meaningful Activity Volunteers on a Monday, Tuesday, Saturday or Sunday from 2pm to 4pm or 6pm to 8pm.

We are looking for 1 Welcome Guide volunteer on a Wednesday morning.

We are recruiting for 1 OPD Assistant volunteer in Outpatient Department 3 – ECG Clinic on a Friday morning or afternoon.

Interviews:

Thursday 19th March, from 3pm to 5pm, in person at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
Friday 20th March, from 2pm to 4pm, in person at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People.
Tuesday 24th March, from 2pm to 4pm, in person at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
Thursday 26th March, from 3pm to 5pm, in person at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
Friday 27th March, from 3pm to 5pm, in person at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People.

Training:

Tuesday 7th April, from 1pm to 4pm, in person at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
Friday 10th April, from 1pm to 4pm, in person at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
Friday 17th April, from 1pm to 4pm, in person at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

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.