Health service seeks injection of volunteers

A NEW drive to get more volunteers working in local health services has been launched by NHS Lothian.

Scottish health boards are joining forces with Volunteer Development Scotland to encourage more people to take on unpaid roles such as working on hospital radio stations.

NHS Lothian has around 1700 volunteers working across its hospitals and healthcare centres.

Heather Tierney-Moore, director of nursing at NHS Lothian, said: "All our volunteers bring something special to the healthcare service in Lothian.

"They do a brilliant job in providing lots of support, including tea and coffee bars, manning information desks, driving people to appointments and socialising with patients.

"I'm very clear that NHS Lothian – and our patients – gain tremendously from the services provided by our dedicated and selfless volunteer colleagues."