For volunteers

General Guidance

Oxshott Care will not ask you to undergo any training but we do encourage all volunteers to come to our Annual General Meeting to meet each other and the Duty Officers, and to share experiences and ideas.

Some situations might be more difficult than others. If you feel you cannot complete a task, or if any part of it worries you, let the Duty Officer know so that problems don't escalate. 

Confidentiality

We have a duty of confidentiality to those we help, and details of specific cases should be not discussed outside Oxshott Care; even with the client's doctor. If you feel the need, you can discuss clients with committee members who can make decisions about any more specialist help that might be required.

Identification

Police strongly advise people not to let anyone they do not know into their homes, and we should encourage our clients to take this advice seriously, so please show your Oxshott Care identification slip when you arrive. The Duty Officer will advise clients of the likely time of your arrival, and you can give them additional reassurance by calling to confirm the day before.

What if a Client doesn't answer the door?

1. Telephone the client; remember to take their number with you!
2. Look through the windows or letterbox in case of a fall etc
3. Check with neighbours in case an ambulance has been or the client has popped out
4. Contact the Police

Parking

Duty Officers will let you know if a client has a blue disabled badge, but we have arrangements for free parking at most hospitals for those that don't. The client wil need to pay for parking at Redhill Hospital. 

Each hospital has its own way of providing us with free parking so, depending on the hospital, you might need any of three forms of accreditation:

1. Your Oxshott Care badge.
2. A yellow Surrey parking card, renewable every four years and available at the AGM or from the Duty Officer. 
3. A record of the registration number of the car(s) you will be using, for those hospitals that use cameras and for Epsom and St. Helier hospitals. We ask you for that information when you first volunteer, so it's important to let us know of any changes.

Payments and Contributions

Oxshott care will never replace or become a commerical service, and will not refuse service on the grounds of inability to pay. However, we are entirely funded by donations so we do encourage our clients to contribute what they can. The Duty Officers will have this conversation when they take calls for help, so clients should be ready to give you an appropriate contribution. If you have incurred exceptional costs, such as parking, you can decide if the contribution reasonably covers those costs or if you should suggest more. 

All funds collected should be submitted by transfer from your account to the Oxshott Care bank account:

Sort code: 30-99-09

Account number: 35983260

Account name: Oxshott Care

Reference: [Client name] [Your name]

In case of non-payment, there is no need for great concern but please let the Duty Officer know for future reference.

If you are buying anything or paying prescription charges for a client not well known to us, the Duty Officer should have arranged for the client to give you some money beforehand. Always provide a receipt for these amounts and ask the client to sign that the amount shown is correct. This may sound excessively formal, but it's hard to deal amicably with any discrepancies after the fact.

Suggested Voluntary Contributions:

These are suggested to clients when they first request our services:

Oxshott / local £2

Cobham, Leatherhead, Esher £5

Epsom, Ashtead, Dorking £8

Chertsey, St. Helier, Guildford, Royal Marsden, Kingston, Sutton £10

These are subject to change, so please refer back here from time to time.

Additional Assistance

Don't be tempted to offer direct contact with clients, because their requests could become unmanageable for you, and it would also make our case records incomplete. Clients can always ask for you when calling us, and you can let us know whether or not you are happy with continued involvement. With your consent, we will give your number to clients in case something changes on the day of an appointment. 

You can decline additional requests that are unreasonable or to wait for a client much longer than anticipated. If additional requests are reasonable but not something you can help with that day, they can be allocated as a separate assignment. 

Expenses

Oxshott care will reimburse costs to those who would like it. Expense claims can be submitted, via our post box in the Oxshott Medical Practice, addressed to the Treasurer. 

Insurance

We insure Oxshott Care volunteers for third party liabilities while working for us, but that excludes incidents covered by motor insurance. Most insurers will treat any voluntary driving you do for us as “domestic use” and cover it under your own car policy, under a 2011 industry agreement. However, a few insurers are not included or require you to inform them that you are doing such work.