Provide person-centred support.

Expands support system especially for vulnerable population.

Reduce anxiety and stress for patients.

Reduce patient loneliness when transitioning home.

Opportunity for social connection.

Enriching and meaningful experience for volunteers.

Skill development for volunteer.

Volunteers part of the team.

Addresses an identified gap.

Cost reduction in hospital.

Preventing avoidable remissions.

Free up allied health staff/clinicians time on ward.

Reduce hospital staff burden.

Increased awareness of dementia and delirium.

Could facilitate early discharge.

Novel.

Mutually beneficial relationship between volunteer and client.

Proactive and preventive.

Positive benefits for volunteers and clients.

Early intervention provided.

Recruitment and turnover – filling gap during transitions.

Ongoing support volunteers and consultation/supervision.

Crisis training required for volunteers.

Travel for volunteers – geographic catchments.

Large time commitment.

Lack of continuity of volunteers.

Variation and unstandardized approach of volunteers.

Not having immediate professional support for volunteers.

Volunteers are not paid so consideration of specific training and not asking too many demands of the volunteers is required.

Clarity surrounding the role of the volunteer – home based and hospital based?

Boundaries of volunteers.

Uncertainty of recruitment.

Matching of volunteers to patients.

Need safety and risk assessment.

Overlap or competition with other hospital-based volunteer programmes.

Patient may be able to stay at home for longer.

Positive outcomes for families.

Training.

Educating community – reduce stigma regarding cognitive impairment.

Volunteer drives programme.

Volunteer support plan.

Reduce burden in healthcare system.

Provide best practice care in hospitals.

Reinvestment cost saving – financially sustainable.

Expanding to aged care facilities.

Capacity building in the community.

Expansion to other hospitals.

Grant to allow paid worker (ie, two-tier approach).

Develop strong safety framework.

Linkage with community services.

Role playing as part of training.

Turnover of volunteers.

High population of cognitive impairment.

Occupational health and safety – unpredictable behaviours, behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia and safety in the house.

Elder abuse – volunteers may identify this is occurring – need to determine how will this be managed.

Measurement of outcomes will be difficult (eg, readmission rate).

Degree to which readmission is considered a failure for the programme.

Securing consent of participants.

Integrating different volunteer groups.

Staff acceptance.

Risk factors (eg, home).

Adequate resources.

Volunteer regulation and legislation.

Baptcare managing volunteers – possibility of communication challenges.

Volunteers need to be self-motivated, reliable, independent, honest, thick-skinned and compassionate.

Volunteers should not have experienced a recent loss.