CLAUDIA LENDS A HAND
Inspired by Mail’s hospital campaign, Strictly host volunteers on NHS ward
IT’S a far cry from the sequins and sparkle of the Strictly studio.
But Claudia Winkleman had no qualms about rolling her sleeves up and getting stuck in when she spent the afternoon helping out at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.
The BBC presenter wanted to give a few hours of her spare time to the NHS after reading about the Daily Mail’s Christmas campaign to recruit more volunteers. Inspired by the pledges of thousands of readers, she fetched coffees, pushed patients in wheelchairs, made beds, scrubbed a mattress and even checked heart rates during her three-hour stint on the wards at the hospital in west London.
‘There aren’t many things that absolutely spring out at me but the Helpforce campaign with the Daily Mail seems like the most brilliant idea in the whole world,’ she said. ‘Who wouldn’t want a visit when you’re in hospital? As soon as I arrived at the Chelsea and Westminster they said “can you pass some tea round?”, so straight away you’re in there with drinks, talking to patients, then you’re making beds, then you’re offering lunch or supper.’
The Mail and charity Helpforce are asking readers to pledge three hours a week or one day a month to their local NHS for six months.
The campaign has received backing from a host of celebrities including JK Rowling and Sir Cliff Richard, alongside Theresa May and Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England.
So far, 22,742 kind- hearted readers have signed up since the recruitment drive was launched two weeks ago, pledging a combined total of 1,293,588 hours over six months. Some 13,191 people have promised to give three hours a week, while 9,551 have pledged one day a month.
They will carry out vital hospital roles such as mentoring patients, collecting prescriptions, providing friendship and even transporting blood.
Prospective volunteers can register their interest by filling out a simple form online.
They will be matched with an NHS Trust with placements likely to run from the spring. Applications are open until the end of the month.
Miss Winkleman wanted to do more than just offer her support, and asked if she could lend a hand to staff and patients at Chelsea and Westminster days ahead of tonight’s Strictly Come Dancing final.
She chatted to patients and met fans on St Mary Abbots Ward, a surgical assessment unit that specialises in gastroenterology and colorectal surgery. One patient, Imogen, 22, was thrilled when the star recorded a video message on her phone for her best friend Jess.
She said: ‘Jess is a huge fan of Strictly, she never misses it, so she’ll be amazed when she gets that message from Claudia.’ She also joined healthcare assistant Dan on his rounds as he took another patient’s blood pressure.