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Volunteers Palliative Care volunteers speak about their role in a hospice.

Volunteers in palliative care

Volunteers can work alongside health professionals to provide emotional and practical help and companionship in all settings. The volunteer can provide special help with a range of tasks including shopping trips, assistance with getting to appointments, providing a friendly ear, or making a cup of tea or coffee. Volunteers do not replace the duties of a paid worker, but work alongside health professionals in clearly defined volunteer roles.

Position statements
Several peak bodies have recognised the role of volunteers in palliative care support:

Working with Volunteers in Palliative Care
Volunteering Australia has developed a series of standards for volunteer management and recognition:

• Definition and Principles of Volunteering 
• Volunteer rights and Volunteer Checklist 
  Provides the framework for best practice volunteer management  
• Model Code of Practice
• National Standards for Involving Volunteers in Not for Profit Organisations 
  Sets the benchmark for best practice and provide more detailed guidance for organisations.

State palliative care association websites also contain statements about the contribution that volunteers make to the palliative care team. 

• Palliative Care Victoria (PCV) describes the role of volunteers in a series of documents covering the work of volunteers, time commitment, training requirements, and the process of becoming a volunteer.
• Palliative Care NSW has a similar document. 
• Calvary Care Bethlehem outlines the work of the volunteer in palliative care on their website.

Information on training
Information is available to assist formal training and management of volunteers working in palliative care, and can be found on the websites of several peak bodies: 

• Volunteering Australia promotes skills and training for volunteers in all fields, through the National Volunteer Skills Centre project
• The Victorian Government’s Strengthening palliative care: palliative care volunteer standards contains a section on volunteer training and recognition. 
• Building on this document, Palliative Care Victoria and the Gippsland Region Palliative Care Consortium work to develop a new resource Palliative Care Volunteer Training Manual- Facilitator’s Guide, which are available to order from Palliative Care Victoria. 
• National Palliative Care Program document Volunteers contributing to a palliative approach in aged care: a model for ‘helping out’ also outlines some of the training requirements for volunteers (p.11).

Resources