Job overview

A valuable volunteer opportunity within our mental health liaison service.

This volunteer role is intended to enhance people’s experience of the mental health liaison service.

 Our mental health liaison volunteer will offer support, under the direction of the clinicians, to people accessing or referred to the service and is based at Tameside General Hospital.

Informal interview

The informal interviews for this role will take place on Tuesday 24th March 2026 at our Trust Headquarters in Ashton-Under-Lyne (OL6 7SR)

Please note we are unable to hold meetings over Teams or Zoom or phone. 

Main duties of the job

You will be supporting patients and their family/friends, as identified by the mental health liaison team, by:

• Orientating patients and their family/friends to the department
• Keeping patients up to date with waiting times, progression with their visit
• Supporting the comfort of patients and their family/friends by providing refreshments, and assisting with any practical support as advised by staff
• Supporting patients to keep in touch with their family, carers, if needed
• Providing, and supporting patients to read, information about additional services that can help and support them
• Encourage feedback (Friends and Family Test) from patients, their family/friends about their experience of the mental health liaison service

• Please note: To meet our Trust’s safeguarding obligations applicants for this volunteer role must be aged 18 or over.

We offer opportunities in other services for people aged 16 and 17, please contact the volunteer service to discuss these roles.

Working for our organisation

Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust

We are proud to provide high quality mental health and learning disability services, both inpatient and in the community across five boroughs of Greater Manchester - Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport and Tameside and Glossop.

Our vision is for a happier and more hopeful life for everyone in our communities and our staff work hard to deliver the very best care for the people who use our services. We're really proud of our #PennineCarePeople and do everything we can to make sure we are a great place to work.

We want our volunteers to reflect the diversity of the people we support, and we encourage and welcome applications from people across all our communities.

Volunteer Recruitment

Applying to become a volunteer may seem a little daunting for some people however, the volunteer service is here to guide and support you through the process.

Please be aware that due to the robust process, recruitment can sometimes take a few weeks.

Throughout the process you will have informal meetings with us and the service where you will be volunteering. In addition to this we will require you to:

• Complete an identity (ID) check
• Complete a Disclosure and Barring Service* (DBS) check,
• Complete an Occupational health assessment
• Give details for two references
• Complete relevant training.

*Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check

DBS checks for volunteers are free and the level of check is dependent on the role you are undertaking.

We encourage applicants to join the DBS Update Service which is also free for volunteers. You can find information on the DBS Update Service here: www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service

We look forward to you joining us and making a difference.