Pictured above: Pertemps People Development Group's HR
director Ben Birchall presents a £400 donation to Lisa
Robinson, lead hospitality manager at Birmingham Children's
Hospital
Parents struggling to cope with the ordeal of seeing their child
battle serious illness or injury at Birmingham Children's Hospital
have been given a boost thanks to a donation from generous
workers.
Staff at Birmingham-based employment specialists Pertemps People
Development Group (PPDG) presented £400 to the hospital to
improve facilities for families after one of its directors
experienced the care and compassion of hospital staff during his
young son's illness.
PPDG operates a Give As You Earn (GAYE) scheme which each year
donates thousands of pounds to charities and other good causes.
Employees make a donation to the scheme each month.
Ben Birchall, HR director at PPDG, said: "I nominated the
Parent Accommodation Service at Birmingham Children's Hospital for
a GAYE donation after experiencing their services personally. The
service is based on site at the hospital and it offers parents with
children who are in the hospital with critical conditions a place
to stay.
"Not only does the service provide a bedroom and communal
bathrooms, kitchen and lounge but, through its staff, it offers a
support service for parents. The team who look after parent
accommodation make an effort to get to know parents, find out about
their circumstances, and always go out of their way to ensure that
they identify what the parents need and help them to meet these
needs."
He added: "My wife and I were fortunate that we only needed to
stay in the accommodation for three weeks. Some families who we met
had been in the accommodation for over six months due to the
circumstances of their child's illness.
"The team do everything they can to make the environment and the
experience of staying at the hospital as comfortable as possible on
a very low budget. They are keen to install a television and
entertainment console in the lounge area for parents and families
to use whilst staying at the hospital. The contribution from PPDG's
GAYE scheme will go towards this and will be recognised with a
plaque on the donations wall in the accommodation unit."
The hospital's business development manager Phil Waddell said:
"On behalf of the children and staff at Birmingham Children's
Hospital, we would like to thank PPDG for their kind donation of
£400.00 which, as requested, has been added to our Parent
Facilities (Accommodation) Fund. We are extremely grateful for the
support as we continually make improvements to make the unit a
"home from home" facility which enables parents to rest and gather
their strength to care for their child.
"We are planning to use this donation to purchase a new
television or Playstation console for the lounge, so families and
siblings can relax and play together. With the help of our
fundraising supporters like our friends at Pertemps People
Development Group, we are able to enable parents to have a
comfortable stay in high quality surroundings, close to their
child."
PPDG's team of employment experts provides advice on benefits,
confidence building, one-to-one support, CV and interview
preparation as well as finding the right job or training course. In
partnership with DWP, the Ministry of Justice and Jobcentre Plus,
PPDG delivers a diverse range of employment and training
initiatives including Flexible New Deal, Working Neighbourhoods
Fund, Learndirect and many ESF funded programmes. PPDG came fourth
in The Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For 2011.
For more information about Pertemps People Development Group,
please visit their website here: www.ppdg.co.uk