Volunteer as a Hospice Neighbour

Could you offer one of our patients social and practical support for a few hours each week?

Hospice Neighbour Scheme

Our Hospice Neighbour scheme brings our patients together with people in their local community who are willing to provide simple social and practical support. 

Supporting someone at the end of their life isn't just about providing medical care. You can add an important layer of extra support and enable our patients to live as good a quality of life as possible.

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"Hopefully I am making life a little bit easier for the families I visit, just like they made my life a little bit easier when my father was poorly." My Experience as a Hospice Neighbour

Find out more

What does a Hospice Neighbour do?

Our Hospice Neighbours are matched to a patient in their local community. They offer social and/or practical assistance through regular or one off visits. Some of the things you might do include:

  • Dropping in for a cup of tea and a chat
  • Helping with the shopping, light housework or gardening
  • Sitting with someone to allow a family member to go out for a break
  • Driving someone to an appointment

They do not provide clinical or personal care.

What skills and qualities are we looking for?

If you have good listening skills and enjoy interacting with people we'd love to hear from you.

What hours can I volunteer?

We welcome any amount of time you can give us. Some of Hospice Neighbours volunteer one hour a week, others might offer more. We can work with you on what time you can spare.

Visits will take place at a mutually convenient time with the patient which may be morning, afternoon or evening. This can be fitted in around your work and other commitments.

Where do we need volunteers?

We need Hospice Neighbours across the Bristol area, but we are currently particularly looking for people in Hanham, Kingswood, Longwell Green, Knowle, Brislington, Whitchurch, Bishopsworth, Clevedon and Nailsea.

What will I gain?

We want you to gain something positive from the time you generously donate to us. Our volunteers often tell us they: 

  • Benefit from using their skills and experiences
  • Get to meet a wide variety of people
  • Have a sense of giving something back and contributing to the lives of our patients and families

What training will I be given?

We provide full training and support is always available. We pride ourselves on looking after our volunteers.

Anything else I need to know?

Our new Neighbour volunteers are required to carry out an enhanced DBS check, and you will need to be 18 years old and over.

What next?

To learn more about the Hospice Neighbours scheme, call Vanessa in the Volunteer Team on 07442 418204, fill in the form below or email us on volunteer@stpetershospice.org

By giving us your email address below, we will assume that you are happy for us to contact you by email about a volunteering role. You will not be contacted by email with any other information unless you opt to do so.

We would love to keep you updated with news about our work and fundraising activities and may contact you by mail or phone with updates or information we think you'd be interested in. See our privacy policy for more information on how we use and protect personal information. You can change the way we communicate with you at any time by calling us on 01275 391400, emailing communications@stpetershospice.org or writing to us St Peter's Hospice Fundraising Office, Unit 18 Orchard View, Estune Business Park, Pear Tree Avenue, Long Ashton, Bristol BS41 9FR.