Finchley Memorial Hospital

We have formed a partnership with the management of FMH and have about forty volunteers who attend to the social needs of the patients, help run the clinics and help in many other ways. We have an excellent relationship with the staff and management  of the hospital, which is headed by Bernice Carolan, the hospital manager. Finchley Memorial Hospital is a long stay hospital for patients recovering from strokes and other debilitating illnesses. Our volunteers work with the therapists and staff and do all that they can to make life easier for them and for the patients in their care.  The scheme is administered on a daily basis by Poh Teen Schooling and Mike Christie who are joint project managers.

Peter Hewitt is confined to a wheelchair and is one of our most enthusiastic volunteers on this project. Peter attends for two full days every week and has been a member of RSVP for many years.  Because of his contribution to volunteering with RSVP he has been introduced on separate occasions to The Queen and to Betty Boothroyd when she was Speaker of The House of Commons. Because of the obvious enjoyment that he gets from volunteering in spite of his very serious disability we were inspired to start our "Active Volunteering" project which offers volunteering opportunities in the community to people with disabilities

One of the stroke wards was awarded a National Certificate of Excellence and we are very proud that the contribution of RSVP is recorded on that award.

Word of the project's success has spread and we have been asked to consider expanding to other local hospitals where the management would like us to start  similar schemes.