By Hannah Jolliffe

Next time you're in a hospital, take a moment to observe the different people there. Of course, the medical staff will always play the leading role, but without shop and café volunteers, ward helpers and trolley services, most hospitals would be pretty cheerless places for patients and visitors.

One of the main organisations behind such services is WRVS. With an impressive 70,000 volunteers assisting in hospitals around the country, and also in local community services for the elderly, this is an organisation that has a significant impact on the health service.

Recruiting younger people

With such a huge bank of volunteers, it's surprising to discover that only 1,400 of these are 25 or under. Chris Dobson, Head of People Support at WRVS, says that this figure is about the same in other similar organisations, but it's one that she is optimistic about improving.

"We're really keen to make WRVS more attractive to young volunteers and to offer them opportunities they'll enjoy and take something from," she enthuses. "We want to give them the volunteering bug!"

And that's exactly what they've done for Alastair Marick, a volunteer operating the trolley run at Birmingham Heartland and Solihull Hospital. "People don't expect a 22 year-old lad to volunteer and I'm often treated as a bit of a novelty in the hospital," he laughs. "I was getting a bit bored and frustrated in the day as my job doesn't start until 2pm. It felt wasteful - a waste of time and a waste of life, so instead of watching TV every morning I wanted to make myself useful."

Supporting the patients

Alastair's role involves taking a trolley stacked with snacks and newspapers around the wards. Although many patients rely on being able to buy these items from him, the role is as much about supporting patients with a friendly chat. "There are people on the ward who don't have any visitors so I like stopping the trolley and having a bit of a chat. You have to be very sensitive to patients' needs and let them initiate the conversation," Alastair says. "If I can do something to make someone's stay in hospital more pleasant, that's got to be a good thing and it makes me feel good about what I do."

This, according to Chris Dobson, is one of the main benefits of having young people volunteering in hospitals. "Patients like to see young, energetic, enthusiastic people on the wards. There are so many people that are ready to stereotype young people in a negative way and that's completely inaccurate. It gives people real life to see young people in hospital."

But the stereotype works both ways. The biggest challenge WRVS faces is in dropping its own associations as a preserve of older women - an important group to them, but one they need to expand upon. The organisation has recently been through a re-branding to refresh its looks and broaden its appeal not only to people of all ages but to all genders and races, too.

The benefit to young people

Re-branding the organisation has proved successful, but it's only half the story. Chris believes that to truly attract other groups to volunteering, they have to offer opportunities that are of real benefit to them. 

"Volunteering in itself makes people feel good because they are doing something for others," he says. "There's a lot that younger people can learn from older people and vice versa. Beyond that, we can also offer meaningful work experience to stand young people in good stead for later. Our opportunities are great experience if you see your future career in medicine or nursing and it's a real advantage when you're applying to university to say you've been active in your local community."

This is something that another young volunteer, 15 year-old Jennifer Ward, agrees with. She replied to a notice at her school and started volunteering in the tea rooms at Good Hope Hospital in Birmingham six months ago. "I want to be a doctor so I thought it would help to get voluntary experience in a hospital. I think it will help me to get paid work when I'm a bit older as I have retail and till experience," she says. "There are five people my age at Good Hope so it's quite sociable volunteering there. I think more people my age should volunteer as it's helpful on your CV and is really beneficial experience when you're applying to university."

Search the do-it.org.uk database for volunteering opportunities with WRVS and other organisations in your area.

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