High Sheriff pays tribute to dedicated Children’s Hospital staff

High Sheriff of the West Midlands Doug Wright paid tribute to dedicated staff at Birmingham Children’s Hospital following a tour of the “world class” hospital.

Mr Wright and his Chaplain, Reverend Becky Stephens, visited several of the hospital’s major facilities, including Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), Waterfall House, which houses the pioneering Rare Diseases Centre for Children, and Magnolia House, the palliative and bereavement care support facility.

The McDonald’s franchisee, who was welcomed by Mark Brider and Cornelia Wright of Birmingham Children’s Hospital charity and Daljit Athwal, the chief nursing and midwifery officer at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospitals NHS Trust, also heard about the new £3m It Starts Here fundraising campaign.

The It Starts Here project will transform the hospital’s main entrance to help reduce fear and anxiety for young patients as they arrive for appointments.

Mr Wright said: “A big thank you to all the wonderful staff who work at Birmingham Children’s Hospital and the charity headed up by Mark Brider.

“I was inspired by their dedication to the betterment of patients and pursuit of further innovations in their world class hospital. They should rightly be proud of the impact they are making.”

The High Sheriff’s engagements over the past month also included:

• A visit to West Midlands Police for a tour of site C3 - the tactical command, control and coordination which was originally constructed for the 2022 Commonwealth Games  and now houses many essential force operations
• An interview with BBC Radio WM’s Kath Stanczyszyn about his life and career
• Cutting the ribbon on Naseby Youth Centre’s new ‘pocket park’ – a new green space at the centre, which serves as a vital community hub for young people
• Joining his grandson on stage at Sutton Park to signal the start of the Walk for Parkinson’s UK – an event which raised more than £29,000 towards research for Parkinson’s disease

Pictured: From left – Mark Brider, Doug Wright, Daljit Athwal, Reverend Becky Stephens and Cornelia Wright