Charity seeks new end-of-life companion volunteers

Marie Curie UK offers support and care to end-of-life patients and their families

An end-of-life charity is seeking new volunteers to join its hospital companionship programme in Somerset.

Marie Curie UK has been providing its Companion service to people who are dying and their families at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton for ten years.

It is now expanding the programme across all community hospitals in the county.

Twenty new volunteers are now being sought to help offer emotional support to patients, their families and hospital staff.

'Natural next step'

Sarah-Jane Trevor, the charity's community engagement officer for the South-West, said the success of the programme in Taunton has motivated their decision to expand the scheme.

"It's been such a wonderful service at Musgrave and it just seems a very natural next step to to be able to offer this to our community hospitals and to expand the number of volunteers now to be able to do that," she said.

She explained that the support Marie Curie Companion volunteers offer is threefold.

"They support patients who are in the last hours and days of life. It's about having someone who can be there and sit with them, maybe read or just hold the space quietly," she said.

"For families, perhaps they would like to go and get a meal in the hospital and step away, but still want to have somebody to be with their relative, also to talk about things and have somebody to talk to.

"Thirdly, I think it really supports the hospital staff because when they're very busy and they feel very guilty about not spending time with people who are at end of life, our companions can step in."

The team at Marie Curie have been supporting patients at Musgrove Park Hospital for a decade

The new sites for the expansion include Bridgwater, Burnham, Crewkerne, Frome, Minehead, South Petherton, West Mendip, Williton and Wincanton.

Vicki Burgess, a ward sister at Musgrove Park Hospital said: "The Marie Curie companion service is so important to all the patients we care for at the hospital, especially for those elderly patients we care for on Eliot ward.

"The companions give their time and patience to sit and chat with our patients when they are at their most vulnerable. We’re so excited that the service is now being extended to our community hospitals."