This is the registered charity of Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust incorporating not only our hospital sites at City, Rowley Regis, Sandwell and the forthcoming Midland Metropolitan University Hospital but our GP sites and partners. Below you can find a variety of information about the charity.
Find the Charity’s annual reports by going to: www.swbh.nhs.uk/our-trust/publications/publications-2023/
Our Mission
“To enhance the experience of all people using our services including staff, patients and their families. We will do this by providing additional facilities and supporting innovative projects that create a comfortable and secure environment.”
Fundraising
Your Trust Charity has responded with undoubted determination to help our community of 530,000 patients and 7,000 staff during the COVID-19 crisis. We are extremely grateful to the overwhelming support we have received from our donors, supporters and colleagues during this extremely challenging time. The work of Your Trust Charity is more important than ever, as we begin to come to terms with the impact this pandemic has upon our society.
Below you can find out some of the ways we, the staff at SWB and those in the community have raised money. You can let us know about your ideas for fundraising here.
This is Monica's Story
In early 2020 Monica was rushed to A&E after collapsing in her home. Both Monica and her
husband were completely unaware of what lay ahead on her long trip to recovery. Little did she know that she had been struck down with a severe case of COVID 19, but much to her families relief, Monica managed to battle her way back to health with the incredible support from Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS staff.
Speaking via video message, Monica explained: “I don’t remember going to City hospital, I don’t remember anything at all. I woke up about 9 weeks later in the Intensive Care Unit.
I know that I had around-the-clock care with two 12-hour shifts of doctors and nurses coming and going. There was nothing that was too much for the doctors, the nurses, and the staff.”
She continued to say: “I always had the sense that the doctors and nurses loved me in a very concrete and good sense. They were always kind and gentle.”
Monica kindly donated some funds to the trust for the remarkable care that she received.
She said: “I think the bottom line is that I wanted to say thank you. Being in hospital and the care I received, it’s something I’ll never forget. I would want everybody to have the care that I had and wouldn’t want people not to have the care because there is no money for the resources.”
Partnership with Starbucks
In early 2022 Starbucks became a charity partner for Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust Charity. Through the kind efforts of NHS Charities Together…
Our partnership with Starbucks embodies Starbucks’ mission to “inspire and nurture the human spirit, one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time”.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, NHS staff would handwrite their names on PPE masks, just as Starbucks handwrite their customers names on cups. These scenes struck a chord with Starbucks, inspiring an extremely generous donation of food, drinks and funds to support the wellbeing of frontline workers. Our partnership has continued and supports NHS staff through the ‘free tall beverage’ and ‘gifts that give back’ campaign, along with various other fundraising and thank you initiatives.
Together, we’re working with Starbucks and the UK’s NHS charities to strengthen connections at a local level to make a real difference in communities.
Our partnership has grown from strength to strength and continues to take a stronger community focus.
You can show your support by sponsoring the team here.
WBA Team Christmas Children’s Ward Visit
Albion players embarked on a Christmas mission to bring festive cheer to the children’s ward at Sandwell General Hospital on Monday afternoon.
Dara O’Shea, Jed Wallace, Jake Livermore and Conor Townsend all spent time chatting with youngsters and their families, as well as hospital staff.
There were special surprises for the children too, who all received an early Christmas gift from the Albion quartet.
Dara said: “I’ve been told the club have been doing Christmas visits at the hospital for at least 90 years. I think it’s a fantastic thing to do and to be a part of.
“It’s so easy to get caught up in Christmas and I think it’s really important to stop and think about those who aren’t as fortunate and those who’ll be having a different type of Christmas time.
“It’s humbling to be here. As a father, it’s hard to imagine what these families are going through, especially at Christmas.
“We’ve met some wonderful children, parents, guardians and hospital staff workers today. It was a pleasure to meet them all and hear their stories.
Smiles all round
“Seeing the smiles on their faces when we arrived on the ward and when we handed out presents was, again, really humbling.
Dr Nick Makwana, consultant paediatrician at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, said: “It’s always a pleasure to welcome the Albion players to our hospital, especially at Christmas.
“It’s been really heart-warming to see how happy it makes our young patients. No one likes being in hospital, especially at this time of year and it really has brought so much joy to the children.
“It’s very kind that the footballers take time out of their busy schedule to bring in gifts and chat to them.”
How you can get involved
If you would like to help a single or regular donation will support us to provide the best possible environment to support our staff, patients and their families. Regular gifts allow us to plan ahead for new projects, research or equipment to ensure we continue providing the best care.
Our Priorities
We exist to achieve the following four priorities:
1. Infrastructure
- Improving the Trust’s environment and making the capital improvements to facilities
- Supporting integrated care across the estate of SWB and allied providers
Casia2
A grant received from the Roper-Hall Eye Foundation to purchase the Casia2 scanner. This is a state-of-the-art research machine which has the ability to provide novel insights into eye conditions such as glaucoma. The machine, housed in the Academic Unit of Ophthalmology, is supporting the unit’s pioneering research work where the Trust is the lead site for clinical trials.
2. Education
- Supporting the educational development of clinical and non-clinical staff
- Aims to secure the long term future of health and social care in Sandwell and West Birmingham
- To support education within the local community
Aiding Cardiology
An advanced electrocardiogram (ECG) course for six members of our cardiology diagnostics team. The course helped them to analyse ambulatory monitor recordings, which will help to reduce waiting times and improve patient outcomes and experience.
3. Innovation
- Help the Trust to be a leader of innovation, pump priming activities, running pilots and testing out new ideas and technologies for care that enhances outcomes for local people
Blood cancer research
4. Community resilience
- Support communities to improve their health outcomes, enabling them to provide outstanding, compassionate care independent of statutory providers
You can find out more about the various projects the charity has been involved in Our Impact.
Legal Duties
Non-Executive members of the Trust Board are appointed by the NHS Trust Development Agency (now NHS Improvement) and Executive members of the Board are subject to recruitment by the NHS Trust Board. Members of the Trust Board and the Charitable Funds Committee are not individual trustees under Charity Law but act as agents on behalf of the Corporate Trustee.
Further details
Acting for the Corporate Trustee, the Charitable Funds Committee is responsible for the overall management of the charitable funds. As defined in the updated Charitable Funds Policy, the duties of the Committee are to:
- Act in the best interests of the Charity
- Manage the Charity’s resources responsibly, which includes protecting and safeguarding its reputation
- Act with reasonable care and skill
The Committee is authorised by the Trust Board to:
- To investigate any activity within its Terms of Reference. It is authorised to seek any information it requires from any employee and all employees are directed to co-operate with any request made by the Committee.
- To instruct professional advisors and request the attendance of individuals and authorities from outside of the Trust with relevant experience and expertise if it considers this necessary or expedient to carrying out its functions.
- To obtain such internal information as is necessary and expedient to the fulfilment of its functions.
- Trustees are legally responsible for the Charity’s fundraising. Operating effective control over the Charity’s fundraising is a vital part of their compliance with legal duties as outlined in the commission guidance on the Trustee duties set out in ‘’the essential Trustee: what you need to know, what you need to do ‘’(CC3).
The Trustees have the right to:
- Prevent the withdrawal of funds, which do not meet the conditions set out in these guidelines.
- Authorise expenditure from a fund if the Trustees believe this to be an appropriate use of resources.
- Cease to delegate their authority to a Fund Ambassador if they believe that the regulations in this document are not fulfilled. In this case they may appoint an alternative manager or take control of the fund themselves.
- Amend these Guidelines as and when necessary. Amendments will be communicated to all Fund Managers.
- Authorise investigation of a breach of this policy that may result in the matter being treated as a disciplinary offence under the Trust’s disciplinary procedure.
The accounting records and the day-to-day administration of charitable funds are dealt with by the NHS Trust Finance Department which is located in Trinity House on the Sandwell General Hospital Site, Lyndon, West Bromwich, B71 4HJ. The NHS Trust levies a charge for providing this service which is reviewed on an annual basis.