Crosshouse volunteer numbers fall from 700 to 200 since pandemic as urgent appeal is made
There is an urgent appeal at Kilmarnock’s Crosshouse hospital for volunteers.
There is an urgent appeal at Kilmarnock’s Crosshouse hospital for volunteers after experiencing a drop in the number of people helping out since the pandemic.
Hospital Volunteers was formed in 2002 and have operated independently within the hospital for more than 2 decades making profits every year that are donated to the hospital.
The volunteer group has donated almost £5m since they began.
Since the outbreak of Covid-19, when hospitals had extremely tight restrictions to combat the virus, the volunteer workforce has taken a significant hit and never fully recovered.
Before March 2020, the group had around 700 volunteers on the books working 2-hour shifts with around 40 people staffing the hospital a day to run the T-Bar, shop, and pushe trolleys around the wards.
Since then, the number of volunteers has dwindled greatly to around 250 people forcing the group to abandon some of the services they offer including the maternity café.
Founder and Treasurer of Hospital Volunteers, Derek Kerr tells Greatest Hits Radio they can’t continue to operate with skeleton volunteers, and it is putting a huge strain on those who remain to help.
He said: “Since Covid the numbers have drastically declined, and we can no longer fulfil the functions and services offered to customers, both visitors and patients alike.
“It is putting a lot of strain on our existing volunteers. Many of them are elderly women and are working 5 shifts a week, and some are doing double-shifts as well. So, we really need new people to come in and help take that strain off.
“It is essential that we get back to full service in the hospital. It’s a great place to volunteer, it’s good fun, there’s lots of banter and I think the customers fully appreciate that bit of service they get.”