Six years ago, the Macmillan Unit at Christchurch Hospital in Dorset was faced with the twin problem of staff shortages and an upsurge in terminally ill patients needing help and support. With no extra funding for new staff, they came up with a solution to recruit and train volunteers.

Fast forward to 2017 and the unit has been transformed. That’s thanks to a very successful project with hundreds of volunteers trained in the skills needed to support palliative care patients benefiting staff, patients and their families.

For many families, the Macmillan Unit offers vital support at a time of stress, worry and heartache. The staff care for patients with multiple conditions who are in need of specialist end-of-life care. Patients may be battling cancer while also suffering from diabetes, Parkinson’s, or dementia. While the core services are funded by the NHS, a significant proportion comes from the local community and from Macmillan Caring Locally.

In 2011, the Macmillan Unit had just 20 active volunteers, performing traditional roles like tea and coffee making. Today, numbers are eight times that, with 160 volunteers of all ages and backgrounds taking on key roles that ease the workload of frontline staff and ensure the unit can best support the needs of its patients.

The network of specialist volunteers commit anything from three hours per week to several hours every day and take on any number of tasks from driving lifesaving equipment to patients’ homes to assisting with administrative tasks or simply providing a listening ear for the families of those who are critically ill.

The training scheme has transformed the volunteer network with a huge impact on the unit in terms the level of support it can now deliver to patients and with cost-savings too.   The volunteers are seen as integral to the unit. “One small step opened up a huge support network for staff,” said Rigler. “Previously, we would have gone to the expense of ordering a taxi when we desperately needed something, but now there is a volunteer able to jump up and deliver a much-needed piece of equipment.”

With volunteers plugging the gaps, staff have more space to assess patients and provide the personalised care that is needed when someone is critically ill. “The volunteer office is now seen as a problem-solving hub,” said Rigler. “There is always someone with the skill needed; it’s just a case of matching supply and demand.” Meanwhile, the training has boosted the confidence of the volunteers, many of whom have lost a loved one to cancer or another life-long condition and are keen to give something back to a place that means a great deal to them. Others are teenagers planning a career in medicine and seeking to develop vital employability skills while giving their own time.

This transformation continues to go from strength to strength, with volunteers now running peer-led training in end-of-life care, gardening, charity shop work, and transportation while matching skills to different roles. The unit’s income is now on the rise year on year and Rigler credits the volunteer network for contributing to this, but more than that, the regular letters of thanks received from staff, patients, visitors and staff demonstrate that its impact reaches much further.