Hundreds of volunteers have been recognised for giving up their time to support hospitals run by the North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust.

A total of 567 volunteers amassed 48,000 hours of time at hospitals, including Hinchingbrooke during 2019.

Most of them are now having to help out at home, due to the coronavirus pandemic, with only 22 remaining active on site.

One of the services that has been launched in response to the pandemic is a service that supports areas in the hospitals that have found their workloads have increased.

At Hinchingbrooke Hospital, a few of the volunteers who can’t come into the hospital have adapted to offer support from home. They have set up a phone service where they make phone calls to their colleagues to carry out a welfare check.

The hospital says this has been really well received with many stating they really look forward to receiving the call each week.

Carol North, head of volunteering, said: “During National Volunteers’ Week we have been celebrating in a different way this year.

“Most of the volunteers are staying safe at home so we profiled some of them showing many of their stories on the hospital social media pages this week.

“I’m so proud of everything they do for us, the fact that they gave up 48,000 hours of their own time last year shows how selfless and committed they are.

“Thank you and we miss you team volunteers.”

Jo Travers, volunteer coordinator at Hinchingbrooke Hospital, said: “It’s great that the volunteers offered to call the team at home – this means the volunteer family are still supported.

“I contact all of the volunteers daily by email by sending out our ‘Moments of Happiness’ presentation, which gives our volunteers the chance to share their updates with each other.

“This is really keeping their spirits up and helps to give a feeling of togetherness whilst we are apart.”

National Volunteers Week ran from June 1-7.