Friends of Moorfields featured in NHS Volunteering Taskforce report
3rd July, 2023
The Friends of Moorfields’ groundbreaking handholding service is featured in a report by the NHS Volunteering Taskforce.
The report, which was released in June 2023, contains a set of recommendations to help take volunteering in health and care services to a new level. It features a number of case studies from several different NHS trusts, exploring some of the benefits of specific volunteering projects.
The report highlights how our handholding volunteers – who provide reassurance and support to patients before, during and after their procedures – enable staff to focus on their clinical roles, and give patients a way to signal their needs.
Professor Gus Gazzard, Director of the Moorfields glaucoma service, is quoted in the report: “Patients are more relaxed and the theatre team can focus on their work safe in the knowledge that someone is there to help calm the patient and allay their fears.”
Volunteer Service Manager Natalia Tomashpolskaya, who leads the project, said: “We are very pleased to have been featured in the report and very proud of this popular programme, which is continuing to expand at Moorfields City Road as well as at other network sites, where there is also demand for patient support during local anaesthetic procedures.”