Results Our clinical volunteer workforce of over 65 individuals are now trained, giving great feedback about its usefulness, practical nature and fun delivery.This successful model and project approach has since been applied to stage two, non-clinical volunteers, with over 170 now beginning their training.Given the strength of feedback, we have now embedded a two-stage training programme for all new volunteers. Conclusion This training ensures our volunteers are safe and effective in their role, that we are meeting our duty of care to them and are creating ambassadors of all volunteers.As a cross-departmental initiative, it has broken down siloworking, significantly reduced risk, embedded key competencies and provided crucial investment in our volunteers. P-257 RECRUITING GRADUATE TALENT IN THE HOSPICE SECTOR -A CASE STUDYMegan Veronesi, James Glover. Royal Trinity Hospice, London, SW4 0RN10.1136/bmjspcare-2016-001245.277Background Recruiting and retaining qualified and competent staff is one of the biggest challenges facing many hospices. There is a relatively untapped pool of highly qualified graduates who want to work in the charity sector however hospices are not on the radar for many. They may assume hospices are NHS organisations; that all jobs are clinical; or that working in death and dying is depressing. As local charities, hospices do not have the resources to run their own graduate schemes to challenge these perceptions. Aims . To attract highly qualified and competent staff . To meet an identified skills gap . To see an immediate return on our investment.Methods We assessed our skills gap and developed a role description. We approached Charityworks, the leading UK non-profit graduate programme, to source us a graduate who met the criteria. The programme offers a nationwide recruitment campaign, a rigorous selection process, and ongoing development for the graduate over their 12 month placement. In 2014 we became the first hospice to host a Charityworks graduate trainee. Results We have now hosted two graduates, one in a project management role and another in a communications role. Both graduates:. have first class honours degrees (in Civil Engineering and in Law) from leading universities . came with relevant skills and experience, in project and data management and in media management respectively . had a swift and positive impact. Our first graduate's environmental sustainability project became organisational policy. Within 6 months, our second graduate contributed significantly towards our communications objectives, increasing Facebook likes by 30% and Instagram followers by 115%.Conclusions Charityworks gave us access to a higher level of talent than we could have attracted individually, at a fraction of the cost of running a comparable scheme ourselves. We would encourage all hospices to tap into the pool of talented graduates available to them through the Charityworks scheme.

BackgroundRoyal Trinity Hospice supports around 2500 patients a year, 80% of whom live in the community. Feedback from patients and carers was that it was difficult to get to grips with changing symptoms and medications, and to understand the support available at the hospice, particularly in the early days after being referred.AimsThe Royal Trinity Hospice app is designed to provide patients and carers living at home with the support and information they need, in a timely and accessible way.MethodsThe content of the app was developed through collaboration between a multi-disciplinary team of staff at the hospice incorporating feedback from patients and carers. The app includes:• Easy to understand information on medications and common symptoms.• Advance care planning prompts which can be shared via email with relatives or hospice staff.• A function to manage attendance at hospice outpatients groups and contact key hospice teams directly.• Bereavement content for carers.Challenges during the development process included a lack of skills and experience in digital product development, capacity challenges around generating content and securing buy-in among hospice staff.ResultsThe app was launched on iTunes in April 2017 and was downloaded 83 times in the first two months. Patients commented that it confirmed that they were receiving the best possible care. Carers commented that the information on symptoms was good to refer back to. Both patients and carers felt it would be of most benefit when they were first referred to the hospice.ConclusionsThe app is still in its pilot phase. A full evaluation will be undertaken to disseminate learning, to understand the full impact on patient and carer outcomes and to determine whether the app merits further investment. However initial findings would indicate there is scope for hospices to enhance face-to-face care with digital tools.

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