East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation TrustFor more than 50 years, volunteers have been making a difference in Ipswich NHS patients’ lives through hospital radio.
Hospital Radio Ipswich at Ipswich Hospital first launched in 1971 and it continues to operate, run entirely by volunteers 24 hours a day.
John Alborough is one of those volunteers, having joined the team in 1974, and he has seen vast changes to both the NHS itself and radio in that time.
For him though, it is talking with patients at their beds that he enjoys the most and he says it is a vital service.
“I absolutely love, and still love, going around and talking to patients,” he says.
“You could almost write a book of all the stories of where people have had such a pleasure from listening to their favourite piece of music and talking to people.
“I’ve always said talking to people at their bedside is more important than coming away with a request… it’s fantastic.”
The team has seen various changes over the years, including technological advancements which means now they can be heard not just in the hospital, but across the world through the internet.
With radio competing more and more against other platforms over the years and with the added “explosion” of stations, Alborough says he once questioned whether the hospital radio is still needed.
But he says he soon realised it certainly is.
“We now find that there is such a world of independent radios out there… some very good and some not so good, but that’s enabled us to really be identified as a special service that is different to other people,” he adds.
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust‘Challenge’
Along with changes in music, he has also seen changes in the amount of time patients remain in hospital.
“It used to be [on average] 10 days and now it’s about two days, so you can’t build an audience so you’ve got to constantly work to remind people that we’re there,” Alborough continues.
“Some people are of course in for weeks, so we’ve always got this challenge of mixed duration, mixed ages, mixed taste in music and reminders that we exist.”
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation TrustVolunteering is precious to Alborough and he encourages everyone to consider it.
“I went to Hospital Radio Ipswich at least once a week and met a different group of people to my family and friends… I think that’s the beauty of volunteering.
“You come out of yourself, you go to a different world, you make good friends in a different world and then you go back to your own world again.
“I think that’s one of strengths of volunteering.”
