Norfolk's community healthcare trust is calling out for new volunteers to join its team.

Volunteers contribute significantly to the experience that patients have when they require treatment or rehabilitation with the community health and care services.

Whether it be taking time to chat to patients on a ward, running a drop in for vulnerable women at City Reach or meeting and greeting patients coming to clinics, or valuable behind the scenes roles

One of the trust's youngest volunteers Nikki Kerdegari, 17, gives up her spare time to support patients at Caroline House, a specialist rehabilitation ward for patients with brain injuries.

She said: 'As a volunteer I mostly spend time talking to patients, we will also play board games. The thing I find most rewarding about volunteering is seeing patients progress. Being able to have an impact, even just a small one, in offering my company and seeing them progress so much is something I have found so rewarding and is what motivates me to continue volunteering for the foreseeable.'

Sandy Fuller has been volunteering at hospice Priscilla Bacon Lodge for four years. She said: 'I mainly work in the coffee bar making tea and coffee for visitors. I find that some visitors like to have someone, who is not involved with the medical side of the patient, to talk to, as that gives them just a short break from the stresses of seeing a loved one who is ill.

'I enjoy it firstly because of the feeling that I am doing something that is worthwhile and I feel appreciated for doing it. I greatly enjoy the company of the other volunteers I work with and have made good friends since I started to volunteer.'

For more information on volunteering, call 01603 272336 or email volunteering@nchc.nhs.uk