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At the heart of our mission is a simple yet powerful service: delivering tea trolley services to patients and their loved ones. Our dedicated volunteers bring a sense of comfort and normality during challenging times at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre, the New Victoria Hospital, and Inverclyde Hospital.
As we celebrate Volunteers' Week, we wanted to highlight the incredible contributions of our volunteers. Their dedication and the positive impact they have on patients' lives deserve special recognition.
Outpatients Department
We provide a free trolley service for all patients and loved ones attending appointments at the Outpatients Department. In a year, this amounts to around 1,200 cuppas! We offer a variety of drinks including tea, coffee, decaf alternatives, fruit tea, hot chocolate, Bovril, fruit and herbal teas, as well as cold water and juices. Additionally, we provide a range of chocolate biscuits, sweets, and mints, with Tunnock’s tea cakes and caramel wafers being big favourites!
This service, fully funded and resourced by the charity, is hugely popular with the patients. We run morning and afternoon services, 5 days per week. The volunteers love this as much as the patients and their loved ones! There are always lots of lovely conversations with patients as they wait to see their brilliant medical teams.
2023 – 2024 Stats:
- 537 hours of support gifted by volunteers
- 50 volunteers helped out
- Around 1,200 cuppas served in a year!
Chemotherapy Day Units
We have been supporting the chemotherapy unit at the Beatson for years. The volunteers and the tea trolley have been a regular feature in the day unit on Level 1, and we have expanded to include patients receiving treatment in Ward B8 and B9 on Level 4 too. Volunteers provide morning teas, coffees, and hot drinks along with chocolate biscuits. The hospital provides lunch for the patients as well as the super popular Borders biscuits, which our volunteers take around. We also offer an afternoon trolley to make sure all the patients coming in later in the day get looked after too.
The volunteers absolutely adore helping out! They enjoy the interaction with the patients, knowing that they are making sure everyone is fed and given a cuppa during their treatment. This is a big help to the NHS teams in the units too, having our volunteers take care of the trolley duties.
2023 – 2024 Stats:
- 2002 hours of support gifted by volunteers
- 59 volunteers helped out
- Over 2,000 cuppas served in a year!
- Volunteers can rack up as many as 3,700 steps per shift
Inverclyde Hospital
We have expanded the trolley service from 3 days to 4 days at Inverclyde Hospital to provide trolley services on busy clinic days. We have a team of 9 volunteers who help out, and they love it!
2023 – 2024 Stats:
- 800 hours of support gifted by volunteers
- Delivered by a dedicated team of 4 volunteers
Clinic P, New Victoria Hospital
We have a small team of volunteers who support the NHS team at the New Victoria Hospital too. Our trolley service and the volunteers are very much appreciated as they go around with a trolley laden with drinks and lunches for all of the patients receiving treatment. This is a 5-day service running Monday through Friday.
2023 – 2024 Stats:
- 621 hours of support gifted by volunteers
- 9 volunteers helped out
All Services
Across all our services in 2023-2024, our volunteers have shown incredible dedication:
- Almost 4,000 hours of support across all services – 3,960 hours
- 122 amazing volunteers
- Over 5,000 cuppas served
Thank you to all our volunteers for their unwavering support and to everyone who has donated biscuits for the patients. You make a world of difference!
