"Volunteers to push Wheelchairs"

I volunteer at Solihull hospital as I am retired and now have some spare time. I enjoy the time I spend at the hospital and believe that by me assisting patients to their appointments means that the nurses and doctors are able to see and help more patients however I am not sure that the doctors are even aware that this service goes on before a patient gets to them.

When I started working here I was allowed to push patients in wheelchairs to their appointments however due to no funding available, new volunteers are not being trained on how to push people safely, so now the rule is no volunteers can push patients. Hospital porters have to do this but sometimes patients are left waiting as no porter is free.

There was a DVD that teaches you how to safely push a wheelchair, but I don't see how this is enough to train people properly. Sometimes I was expected to push people that were twice my weight and due to my age and own health I was not comfortable doing this so am very happy that we are not expected to do this anymore.

I do like my job the way it is and am very happy volunteering in the hospital helping the staff and patients.