Support at Home

The aim of the Support at Home service is to place the person at the centre of what we do and help them get through a crisis by offering positive encouragement, practical help and emotional support, for a few days or for longer, depending on their needs.

Commitment: Minimum of 2 hours per week, Monday to Friday between 10am and 7pm.

Location: Weston General Hospital. May include travel within Weston, Worle, Clevedon, Portished and Nailsea.

About this service: In the UK, our health and social care work offers valuable time-limited support for individuals vulnerable to crisis. From people recovering from illness, surgery or an accident, to struggling with a life-changing event.

Support at Home volunteers enable people to live as independently as they can at home, building trusting relationships and helping them to regain their confidence and well-being. Working closely with health and social services colleagues, volunteers can make the difference in preventing an admission to hospital or supporting a timely discharge home.

About this role:

•Visiting the service user on their arrival home from hospital and settling them in.

•Helping the person to regain independence by supporting them with practical tasks such as shopping and collecting prescriptions initially then finding ways they can do themselves.

•Keeping records of contact and activities undertaken with the service user. •Referring the service user to mobility aids and to other external services as appropriate.

•Supporting lonely & socially isolated service users to build confidence, self-esteem and to regain independence.

•Support with practical issues such as to enable delivery of equipment from community equipment service to enable the service user to relocate home from hospital quicker for example.

•Supporting people to attend local community services suitable to their needs, helping them identify other activities in the area and going with them as necessary. This enables access to various health/medical appointments, social activities, shopping, transport and other community services. This may involve travelling with service users or transporting them initially using your own vehicle where appropriate until an alternative means of transport is identified.

•Signposting to any relevant, appropriate agencies and organisations and help to access social activities in the local community to reduce isolation.

What we offer:

•The chance to work with a variety of different people from different walks of life and make a real difference to their lives

•A great opportunity to develop your existing skills and to gain new ones •The company of a warm and friendly team of like-minded people •Reimbursement of reasonable out-of-pocket expenses when on duty •Being a volunteer for the British Red Cross means that you can proudly say you are part of the world's largest humanitarian organisation