Volunteers in specialist palliative care: a survey of adult services in the United Kingdom.
BACKGROUND
Worldwide, the demand for specialist palliative care is increasing but funding is limited. The role of volunteers is underresearched, although their contribution reduces costs significantly. Understanding what volunteers do is vital to ensure services develop appropriately to meet the challenges faced by providers of palliative care.


OBJECTIVE
The study's objective is to describe current involvement of volunteers with direct patient/family contact in U.K. specialist palliative care.


METHODS
An online survey was sent to 290 U.K. adult hospices and specialist palliative care services involving volunteers covering service characteristics, involvement and numbers of volunteers, settings in which they are involved, extent of involvement in care services, specific activities undertaken in each setting, and use of professional skills.


RESULTS
The survey had a 67% response rate. Volunteers were most commonly involved in day care and bereavement services. They entirely ran some complementary therapy, beauty therapy/hairdressing, and pastoral/faith-based care services, and were involved in a wide range of activities, including sitting with dying patients.


CONCLUSIONS
This comprehensive survey of volunteer activity in U.K. specialist palliative care provides an up-to-date picture of volunteer involvement in direct contact with patients and their families, such as providing emotional care, and the extent of their involvement in day and bereavement services. Further research could focus on exploring their involvement in bereavement care.
1 Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Unit, University College London Medical School , London, United Kingdom .
Rachel
R
Burbeck
Joe
J
Low
Elizabeth L
EL
Sampson
Ruth
R
Bravery
Matthew
M
Hill
Sara
S
Morris
Nick
N
Ockenden
Sheila
S
Payne
Bridget
B
Candy
D000328:Adult; D003363:Cost Control / Q000379:methods; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006738:Hospices / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D006113:United Kingdom; D014838:Volunteers / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000078329:Workforce