Kingston Hospital Level 1 Dining Companions Role Profile
- What is a Dining Companion?
As a Dining Companion, you will be assisting ward staff and patients during mealtimes.
- What’s the commitment?
We aim to have Dining Companions in every medical ward for lunch and dinner, seven days a week. To support this, we ask volunteers to commit to one mealtime every week on a regular basis, for a minimum of six months or 30 hours. If you can give more time, we welcome this.
- What’s involved?
As a Level 1 Dining Companion, you will be helping in the following ways:
- Assisting the Nutrition Coordinator to deliver the right meal to each patient
- Positioning trays, cutlery, cups etc. on tables so that patients can easily access them
- Making sure patients have everything they need once their meal is served
- Offering companionship to patients who request this during their mealtime
- Encouraging and enabling patients to eat and drink
- Spotting ways to make the mealtime easier for patients, e.g. opening packets or cutting up food
- Requesting adapted cutlery for patients who could benefit
- Helping the ward hostess to collect-in finished trays
- Handing out menus for the following meal and helping patients to complete them
- Spotting simple ways to make patients more comfortable during mealtimes, e.g. getting an extra blanket if someone is cold
- Completing Nutrition and Hydration Record Sheets as necessary for each patient you help
- Liaising with professional staff to seek help for patients if they need it
- Feeding back to your supervisor about your experiences
- How we will support you:
- 3 hour induction and training workshop
- Experienced Dining Companions Buddy
- A liaison person on each ward, usually the Nutrition Coordinator
- Quarterly Dining Companions Forum
- Kingston Hospital Volunteering Service is here to help
- What we expect from you:
- Commitment of one mealtime every week, more if you can offer it for a minimum period of six months or 30 hours.
- Participation in the training relevant to your role and confidential discussion of any reasonable adjustments required to meet your needs.
- Full compliance with your training and relevant hospital policies including: Infection Control, Health & Safety, Fire Safety, Security, Confidentiality and others as required.
- To live our values through your volunteering at Kingston Hospital: Caring, Safe, Responsible, Value Each Other.
Contact the Volunteering Office to get started
T: 0208 934 3620 or email
Dining Companion May16