FAQs

• Use your skills for good – whether it’s organisation, communication, or creativity, your strengths can make a difference
• Give back to the community – support a cause that helps thousands of children every year
• Make new connections – join a welcoming team of like-minded individuals dedicated to helping others
• Gain valuable experience – develop new skills and build confidence in a rewarding environment
• Support in a way that suits you – whether it’s a one-off event or a regular commitment, there are many ways to get involved.

We have a variety of volunteering opportunities to suit different skills and interests, including:

• Event support – help us at exciting fundraising events and campaigns
• Fundraising administration – assist with key behind-the-scenes tasks
• Community engagement – spread awareness and connect with supporters
• Charity challenges – cheer on our fundraisers and participants
• Specialist skills – use your expertise in areas such as marketing, design, or logistics to support our work

Whatever your availability and however you choose to help, you’ll have a fun, rewarding experience as part of our amazing community of volunteers. And it’s all for the good of the young patients at our hospital.

The volunteering opportunities available with us directly support our important charitable work helping sick children and their families at our hospital. The roles do not involve patient contact and only very rarely involve visits to wards.

If you are looking for opportunities to volunteer within the hospital, please contact the hospital’s volunteer service.

Whatever volunteer role you choose to take on, we will give you all the training and support you need to feel comfortable in your work. All fundraising volunteers have a staff member who they can go to for help and support.

Some of our volunteering opportunities require you to have particular skills but these are clearly stated in the role profiles. The majority do not require you to have any experience or specialist skills and we will provide all the training and information you need.

This can vary to suit you. We will let you know what opportunities are coming up, when and how much time it will take and you can sign up to volunteer.

To volunteer you must be at least 16 years of age. Volunteers aged 16 or 17  will need written consent from their parent or guardian.

Yes, you can volunteer in our hospital but this is not something that we organise. You will need to contact the hospital volunteer service.

Email: bwc.volunteers@nhs.net
Tel: 0121 333 9999 extension 6726.

Our volunteering opportunities do not require a formal interview. We will ask you to complete an application form to enable us to offer you a suitable opportunity. An informal meet and greet session will then be arranged to discuss the service and opportunities further.

While our volunteers do not receive payment for their work, we are able to reimburse travel expenses if required. 

Up to a maximum of 24 months of support for a research proposal aimed specifically at nursing, midwifery and other allied healthcare professions (dietetics, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, radiography etc.). This may be a self-contained piece of research, or likely to lead to a successful application for external, peer-reviewed research project funding. 

Download the application form here

 Deadline 19th June 2026-12pm

We offer flexible hybrid working to support a healthy work-life balance, giving our employees the flexibility to work in a way that helps them feel productive, supported and connected both at home and in the workplace.

For a band 5 NMAHP BWC staff member to undertake 1 one day per week for 12 months, to lead on a quality improvement project, based in their own clinical area.

Download the application form here

Deadline 19th June 2026-12pm 

All applicants must be available for a 1-hour interview on Tuesday 7th July 2026 

Up to a maximum of 24 months of support for a research proposal aimed specifically at Psychologists, Pharmacists & Clinical Scientists. This may be a self-contained piece of research, or likely to lead to a successful application for external, peer-reviewed research project funding.

Download the application form here

 Deadline 19th June 2026-12pm  

These are for research-active individuals who wish to become Chief Investigators, and may be at an early part of their research careers.  

Call to open in July 2026 

For research-active Nurses, Midwives, Allied Healthcare Professionals and clinical health scientists who which to become Chief Investigators, and may be at an early part of their research careers. The award could support recruitment to a large externally funded research project or prior to applying for a future Clinical Research Scholarship.

Call to open in July 2026  

For research-active Consultants to undertake, perform and develop research, and prepare for a Clinical Research Scholarship (CRS) application. As well as post-scholarship clinicians to continue their research.

Call to open in July 2026 

For a trainee health, social or biological sciences graduate to undertake a supervised research project. We encourage PhD applications to be match-funded. We will request peer review suggestions on submission of your application. 

Support for small-scale hospital, community or laboratory-based research leading to a peer-reviewed publication. We particularly welcome applications from those who are at the beginning of their research and academic journeys and will not be considering applications for qualifications, such as MDs or PhDs, under a small project grant. 

Partnering with our charity helps create meaningful, measurable change for the communities and people who need it most, while demonstrating your organisation’s commitment to social responsibility.

• At least one applicant must be a member of staff with research experience employed by Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
• An individual may be named as an applicant on no more than two applications in any one year, providing satisfactory reporting of any current grants.
• Please check if your department has its own earmarked research funds which could be used before applying to the BWCRP.
• In addition to scientific quality, the committee considers the following: benefit to children and women, value for money, and likelihood of achieving the aims of answering the research question, and future prospects of funding and development. 
• Applications £50,000 and over require external peer review. We welcome suggestions for peer reviewers.
• As part of the assessment process, we will ask for assurances that the Trust Research and Development team support your project.
• See NIHR guidance for payment rates for Patient & Public Involvement & Engagement work here.

Working together raises your profile through positive association with our trusted cause, helping to strengthen customer trust, employee pride, and stakeholder engagement.

Mutually beneficial partnerships open doors to collaboration, networking, and innovation by combining expertise, resources, and audiences to achieve more together than we could alone.

For any queries throughout your grant, please contact the charity at bwc.bchcharities@nhs.net or 0121 333 8507.

Six months from your agreed start time in your award letter, you are required to provide six-monthly updates for the Impact team to support with progress and provide updates with Charity Trustees and the Research Programme committee.

A template form is available for six-monthly updates from your Grants Officer. We also accept documents produced for other purposes/organisations which provide updates, updates provided via email, or a phone/Teams call with a Grants Officer. 

Depending on the length of your project, you are also required to complete a more in-depth annual or end of grant report

Please review your award letter to find out your unique reporting deadlines, and your Grants Officer will also be contacting you for these updates/report. Please contact your Grants Officer/ bwc.bchcharities@nhs.net for a copy of your award letter and the deadlines.

Please contact the charity if you wish to request: change of start date above three months, no-cost extension & change of end date, reporting extension, change to project (title, plan, investigation, supplier), change to project budget (transfer between budget lines), change to funded personnel, cost extension, and/or project withdrawal.

Changes of start dates will move your required reporting dates accordingly. 

Complete a request for a requisition, invoice or expense payment on our Impact Portal, using your grant number.

Thanks to funding from high street fashion entrepreneur George Davies, Mr Nigel Drury, a Consultant in Paediatric Cardiac Surgery at our hospital, was able to lead the launch of the UK’s first national study into identifying research priorities for patients diagnosed with congenital heart disease (CHD). 

Twelve children in the UK are born with CHD every day, making it the most common type of birth defect. 

Medical and surgical advances over the last 70 years have meant survival rates have improved, with approximately 97% of children diagnosed with CHD now expected to reach adulthood. However these children often need treatment throughout their lives, requiring specialist review during childhood and into adulthood.  

A team of UK patients, parents and healthcare professionals worked with the non-profit initiative, James Lind Alliance, to determine the set of focuses.  

Among the priorities identified was improving the outcomes of heart surgery for CHD patients and the impact of CHD on mental health, recognising the significant psychological effect of diagnosis and life-long management of the disease.  

More than 500 people responded to the initial survey and, following a prioritisation survey and two workshops, two top 10 lists of key priorities for research into child/antenatal CHD and adult CHD were agreed.  

Other areas of focus included research to enable less invasive interventions, improve CHD screenings before and after birth, using new technologies and innovation to personalise care and better outcomes, and improve quality of life for children and adults living with CHD.

The strategy has seen the development of a new network in the UK and Ireland for studies across multiple sites, focusing on clinical trials that have the potential to change clinical practice in CHD.

Other initiatives include the setting up of a national CHD patient and public involvement group made up of patient, parent and charity members, who will actively contribute to the development, conduct and reporting of research. 

Research has been conducted into the use of a new drug which blocks nutrient uptake in cancer cells to allow doctors to offer a less aggressive treatment option for children and young people diagnosed with leukaemia. 

The research was led by our hospital’s Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Oncology, Dr Francis Mussai, and funded by one of our fabulous oncology supporters, fundraising group Carter the Brave, in honour of Carter Chatting.  

Cancers, including leukaemias and solid tumours, often require multi-drug chemotherapies to treat high-risk patients. Sadly, overall survival for these patients, particularly those with leukaemias or neuroblastoma, remains poor.  

While clinical trials into additional therapies for these cancers have taken place, investigations into other treatments aren’t as common as they should be.  

Adult clinical trial research into this new drug showed anticancer activity with minimal side effects, compared to standard chemotherapies which result in much harsher and long-term after-effects.  

Thanks to Carter the Brave, who donated £107,000 to this research, Dr Mussai and his team discovered that removing an amino-acid called arginine from cancer cells can kill them. They tested their treatment in adults and the results were extremely promising. Now, they’re ready to take the treatment into clinical trials for children with relapsed cancers, for whom other treatment options have failed.

Children with the most common malignant form of brain cancer could see diagnostic wait times reduced thanks to research that’s trialled a new, quicker and less invasive way of determining which type of tumour they have.    

The study was conducted by a team of researchers led by University of Birmingham and Newcastle University, together with our hospital as the lead clinical centre. 

The collaborative team identified how the four different groups of medulloblastoma, a malignant children’s brain tumour, had a specific profile based on their individual metabolism.   

Taking cell samples from 86 tumours, a laboratory test was used to accurately identify metabolic markers including chemicals specific to the different tumour groups.     

The study also validated previous research which found glutamate, a metabolite present across all of the tumour cells, is linked closely with tumour prognosis.    

Significantly, the research could pave the way for using MRI scanning combined with machine learning to assess medulloblastomas for their ‘signature’ metabolic profiles without the need for invasive biopsy and could rapidly reduce the current three-four- week wait from presentation to full diagnosis.    

We helped deliver research into this topic with a fantastic £75,000 grant received from The Children’s Research Fund, plus constributions from Children with Cancer UK and Cancer Research UK. We’ve also invested an additional £113,000 to support further vital imaging research.

Thanks to generous donations to our Help A Heart Appeal, our charity was able to fund a special cardiac arrest prevention project called CAP QI which saw a reduction in the number of cardiac arrests on our Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). 

OurPICU is the largest and busiest single-centre PICU in the UK and caters for 35 specialties, including cardiac. Of all the unit’s heart patients, around 25% are deemed at high risk of having a cardiac arrest.  

The number of children who survive a cardiac arrest in hospital is only 54%, and those that do often experience additional health complications as a result, which can impact their life expectancy and quality.  

Our Help A Heart Appeal raised £50,000 to fund a quality research nurse on PICU, who brought in special measures to help us lower the chance of our heart patients arresting, including:     

• Helping to identify our most at-risk patients   
• Introducing and increasing measures to reduce the possibility of a cardiac arrest happening
• Ensuring nurses caring for patients at the bedside are prepared for high-risk patients 
• Educating staff, so if a cardiac arrest does happen, they feel ready to respond in a safe and efficient way
• Collecting quality data to measure the role’s success.    

We are the first paediatric hospital in the UK to implement such a role. The same project conducted across 15 hospitals in America was found to reduce cardiac arrests by 33%. 

View our handy guide to running your own raffle or lottery here.

Lace up your trainers and take part in an event. Whether you’re running, walking, or jogging, every mile helps raise vital funds. Invite friends, set a personal challenge, and share your journey to inspire others to donate along the way.

Lace up your trainers and take part in an event. Whether you’re running, walking, or jogging, every mile helps raise vital funds. Invite friends, set a personal challenge, and share your journey to inspire others to donate along the way.

Lace up your trainers and take part in an event. Whether you’re running, walking, or jogging, every mile helps raise vital funds. Invite friends, set a personal challenge, and share your journey to inspire others to donate along the way.

Lace up your trainers and take part in an event. Whether you’re running, walking, or jogging, every mile helps raise vital funds. Invite friends, set a personal challenge, and share your journey to inspire others to donate along the way.

Tell your friends and followers why you’re fundraising and what it means to you. Don’t forget that on X you’re limited to 280 characters, so you’ll need to be short and sweet. For example: “I’m fundraising for @Bham_Childrens on Saturday to say thanks for my daughter Lily’s amazing care. Show your support by making a donation <insert JustGiving link>”. On Facebook, your word count isn’t restricted, so you can share your story in a lot more detail by setting up a Facebook Fundraiser with ease.

Keep your followers updated and show them how much work you’re putting in to meet your fundraising target. If you’re doing a challenge event for example, share your training sessions online.

Bring your story to life by including photos and videos in your posts. You can also use our charity logo to show you’re supporting us – get in touch with our fundraising team or your dedicated fundraising contact to find out more.

Don’t be scared to ask people to donate, but also to follow and share your posts. The more people who read your story, the more donations you’re likely to get!

Make sure you tag in everyone involved in your fundraising. If you do this, your posts will appear on more pages and they’ll be seen by more people! Simply find out their account handle (e.g. @Bham_Childrens). If you’re holding an event, you could even create your very own ‘Facebook Event’ page and invite all of your friends to join, to keep up-to-date with your latest fundraising news.

If you have any queries about using social media to publicise your fundraising activities please call us on 0121 333 8506 or email us and we’ll be happy to help.

Bring your team together to take part in one of our events, raising vital funds and making a real difference for children and families.

Take part in team challenges like sponsored walks, runs, our Dragon Boat Race or a sports day.

Empower your team to volunteer and make a real difference—supporting children and families while building skills, connection and purpose. Find out more here.

Choose us as your Charity of the Year to make a lasting impact. Find out more here.

• Organising a fundraiser helps pupils build resourcefulness and communication skills as they’ll need to promote their event and arrange a space to bring their plans to life
• Taking on a fundraiser, such as our School Apprentice Challenge, helps students develop written and verbal communication skills, provides organisation and administration experience, commercial awareness, teamwork and confidence.

• Discuss fundraising ideas which will suit your group or school
• Host an introductory or thank you assembly
• Meet with you, your school council or fundraising group to discuss events with tips on how to maximise your fundraising ask
• Offer a tour of our hospital
• Provide you with fundraising materials ready for your event.

• Register here and we’ll be in touch to talk through your ideas with you.

We offer flexible hybrid working to help our people maintain a healthy work-life balance, giving you the freedom and support to work in a way that helps you thrive both professionally and personally.

We offer a generous annual leave entitlement, with additional days awarded to recognise and celebrate long service and commitment to our charity.

We provide enhanced sick pay to give our employees added peace of mind and support during times when they need it most.

Setting up a payroll gift to our charity is easy. Fill in the quick form, and we’ll handle the rest. 

We offer enhanced maternity pay to support our employees and their families during an important and life-changing time.

We’ll contact your employer to set up your regular donation. It’s effortless – no extra steps are needed from you. 

Our Employee Assistance Programme and Lifestyle Savings scheme provide practical support, wellbeing resources and everyday discounts to help our employees both in and outside of work.

Once set up, your donation will immediately help us go above and beyond for our patients and their families. They’ll be so grateful for your support.   

We offer free annual flu jabs to help support the health and wellbeing of our employees throughout the year.

From fundraising challenges to team celebrations, we host a range of charity events throughout the year that bring colleagues together while supporting an incredible cause.

Arrange a matched funding scheme to double your team’s fundraising efforts. 

Providing the option of Payroll Giving makes it easier for employees to donate regularly. Find out more here.

We’re always looking for sponsors to support our events, helping us maximise income while adding real value to corporate partnerships. 

Event sponsorship is a powerful way to connect with the local community or engage with an audience that matters to your business. By partnering with us, you can showcase your brand to new supporters who share your commitment to our hospital and our sick kids. 

To find out more about getting involved, contact us here.

Does your business provide goods or services which could support our charity and hospital? 

We’re proud to have worked with a range of companies who have offered gifts in kind, from DHL Tyrefort who store our hospital Christmas decorations, to Chemist Direct who donated toiletries for patients and staff during the Covid-19 pandemic and LM JV who created a beautiful wood carving for our hospital garden.

If your business could support us in this way, we’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch with us here.

Payroll Giving is a smart, simple and tax-effective way to support our charity straight from your pay each month. 

Easy to set up and flexible to manage, Payroll Giving allows you to give to our charity from your salary, before tax, making it one of the most efficient ways to give. Find out more here

There are many ways you can support our hospital by giving your time – whether as an individual or as part of a team – and help make a real difference for our sick kids.

Get in touch with us today or read more here.

Through product related fundraising – also known as cause related marketing – we’ve built powerful, mutually beneficial partnerships with our supporters. One example is Mowgli Street Food in Grand Central, who add an optional £1 donation to every customer’s bill to support our hospital and sick kids.

Partnering with us to develop a new product, or aligning our charity with an existing one, can elevate your brand whilst raising transformational funds. In fact, research shows 85–90% of consumers would switch brands to buy a product linked to a good cause. 

Get in touch to learn more about our inspiring product related marketing partnerships and discover how your business can get involved.