Volunteer Reception & Office Assistant (Grace Care Centre, Thornbury)

Our homes welcome people throughout the day from relatives popping in, to visiting entertainers, to residents returning from a trip out. That's where our volunteer Reception and Office Assistants come in.

Our homes are busy places with a lot going on. It’s so important that everyone who comes in is greeted by a friendly face and pointed in the right direction.

Our Reception and Office Assistants usually support the Home Team over evenings and weekends. This is often a busy time for visiting families but a time when we don’t always have someone available to welcome them in. Reception and Office Assistants recognise that our resident’s safety is the most important thing and they are guided by our team to ensure they know what to do when someone asks to be let in or out. They take pride in getting to know all of our residents and their families and being the custodian of our home.

Our Reception and Office Assistants ensure that everyone is signed in and out and feels confident going about our home. They know our homes inside out so they can give directions to our visitors.

A lot goes in to helping our homes run smoothly so our Reception and Office Assistants also get involved with some general admin tasks. This might be filing, shredding or stuffing envelopes or it could involve a bit more IT, such as helping to produce the homes’ newsletter. (Don’t worry, this isn’t expected, and we’ll talk to you about what you feel comfortable doing.) The information our Reception and Office Assistants see is often confidential, so we rely on them being discreet and professional in all they do.

You’ll build up relationships with people so ideally, we’d like a regular, longer term commitment of a couple of hours a week. Days and times are flexible; talk to us and we’ll see what suits us both.

Role Boundaries The following boundaries apply to all volunteer roles at the Trust: • All volunteers over 16 years old will require DBS clearance (Criminal Records check) and the Trust will cover the cost. • There are certain things only carers can do. Volunteers can’t provide personal care for residents. This involves help with dressing, visiting the toilet or eating. • Volunteers can’t support residents in moving, rising or sitting or move residents in wheelchairs until they have completed mandatory moving and handling and wheelchair training. • Volunteers must not hoist a resident • Volunteers should not attempt to give first aid unless qualified to do so. • Volunteers can’t transport residents in their own car. • Volunteers should not give or accept gifts to or from residents, relatives or employees. All gifts offered should be declared to the Home Manager. • Our communications team are responsible for all our media postings. Volunteers should not contact or speak to the media unless asked to by their manager nor should they post anything on social networking sites. • Volunteers should ask their manager before making any decision outside the scope of their role that could affect OSJCT, residents, employees or other volunteers. • Volunteers are not expected to handle complaints or safeguarding issues. They should talk to their manager in the first instance.