Administrative staff volunteer their time to help serve Christmas dinners to patients this year | Latest news

Hazel Marley, a Research Administrator for the Cancer Clinical Trials Team at Nottingham University Hospitals, is selflessly volunteering to serve meals to our patients over the festive season. Hazel, who signed up to help out with patient mealtimes across our Trust, has been a volunteer for just over three weeks.

At first, she thought she might be more of a hindrance then a help because she’s never done this kind of work before, but her passion to brighten the days of our patients drove her to give up her time to support our busiest wards with this vital service. After having gone through the appropriate training and PPE assessments, Hazel says: “I do really enjoy my time I spend on the ward and look forward to it every morning and feeling appreciated by the patients and staff is very rewarding. A couple of patients who have now gone home did joke on my second day that they were glad I’d come back or happy they hadn’t scared me off by being demanding with their order!”

As well as helping to serve the meals, Hazel makes sure that our patients are comfortable and have all that they need, she also helps with collecting trays after mealtimes.

Jo, a ward manager who has had Hazel's help on her ward, says: "Mornings can be the busiest time on our ward. Having Hazel here to help with breakfasts has been a massive help and has taken some pressure off the rest of the team. She is a pleasure to have on the ward and always has a smile."

Hazel has saved the catering team time, enabling them to serve breakfasts quicker, and move onto the lunch orders and begin the preparations, she says: “My team leader and manager have been supportive of me wanting to help and several people I work with have agreed with them and are proud of me for offering my help.”