Three charities set to get a boost

David Ireland, chief executive of the Francis House Hospice; Amy Lewis, Macmillan Cancer Support charity; Leigh Griffin, Leigh Griffin, Managing Director of the GMCSU; Adrian Nottingham, Adrian Nottingham, Chief Executive of Mustard Tree

NHS staff in Greater Manchester will help to make a real difference to three charities after they picked them for their organisation to support.

Employees of the Greater Manchester Commissioning Support Unit (GMCSU) were asked by health bosses to select three charities to support and throughout the year this will be provided through fundraising, time and expertise.

The GMCSU brings together experienced NHS people to design and deliver a comprehensive range of services to NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups.

The Greater Manchester-based charities are Francis House Children’s Hospice, The Mustard Tree and Macmillan Cancer Support.

Over the coming weeks the GMCSU will be working with the chosen charities to help shape how staff can support them.

Leigh Griffin, Managing Director of the GMCSU, said: “We are really keen to give back to the communities where we work. We asked our employees to suggest and vote for charities we could support that were close to their heart. We invited the charities to speak to staff at our launch event to share their work and we listened to some very moving stories of the people they have helped. We hope this will be the start of a very valuable relationship where we are able to make a real difference to the charities’ work and the lives of the people they help.”

Francis House Children’s Hospice, which provides care for children and young adults with life threatening conditions as well as providing support for their families.

David Ireland, chief executive of the Francis House hospice said: “We feel privileged that we were selected as one of the charities that the GMCSU will support by their employees. We look forward to close working with the organisation in future. We have recently had an extension to the building as a result of raising a large amount of money from fundraising. So this partnership will help us to reach out to more people and build more relationships with the health organisations.”

Macmillan Cancer Support charity, which provides practical, medical and financial support for people with cancer and pushes for better cancer care in and around Manchester, as well as nationally.

Becky Bainton, Fundraising Manager for Greater Manchester said: “While Macmillan is a national charity, it does a huge amount of work in the Greater Manchester area. The support of organisations such as the GMCSU makes a real difference to what we are able to achieve in supporting people with cancer and their families. We’re also delighted that GMCSU employees picked us when there are so many deserving charities out there. We hope this will be the start of a valuable and beneficial relationship that will help us to move forwards in our work.”

Mustard Tree is a charity committed to providing life support for the homeless, marginalised and vulnerable across Greater Manchester. It provides food, clothing, furniture and training, aiming not only to improve life for deprived communities in Greater Manchester, but also work to care for the environment through continual re-use and recycling of resources for the benefit of those in need.

Adrian Nottingham, Chief Executive of Mustard Tree said: “We are really pleased that we have been selected as one of the charities the GMCSU will work with. We have recently started addressing how Mustard Tree may play a part in improving the health outcomes for people who are homeless and marginalised; it is well documented that people’s healthy life expectancy is significantly reduced by poverty and deprivation. We believe that working together with the GMCSU will help us to make a real impact.”