Young volunteers give up time to support patients at Peterborough City Hospital

The keen volunteers, aged 16-18, have been coming to the hospital in their own time to help out on the wards, offering a befriending service and providing extra support to patients. The opportunity has given the volunteers invaluable experience and a great insight into careers within the health care services.

The young volunteer scheme is new to the North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Peterborough, Hinchingbrooke and Stamford and Rutland hospitals, and these volunteers were the first group to graduate.

Staff members from the hospital also came to the ceremony to talk to the group about their careers, with the aim of sparking an interest in a career within the NHS.

Carol North, head of volunteering at the trust, said: “It was really exciting to see young people in the hospital having their first volunteering experience.

“The difference in their confidence and ability to talk to any patient was a great thing to see develop and I hope we can support these young stars become future staff within our trust. Fifteen out of the group of 19 are going to continue volunteering.”