"We cannot do it without you"- the impact of volunteers in UK hospices

It is often said to volunteers in hospice and palliative care: ‘We cannot do it without you’. However, until recently there have been few, if any research studies undertaken to demonstrate this. Hospices and hospice volunteering in the UK are undergoing significant change. It is important that the role and impact of volunteering on such organisations is understood if the planning of, and approach to, future services are to be both holistic and effective. This paper gives a brief overview of a research study that explored volunteering from a strategic perspective and considered its impact on a number of key organisational viability factors.