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Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 2 December

December 2, 2022

This week my message focusses on the very real impact the current cost of living is having on individuals and families.

Cost of living support is really important, not only is winter dark and difficult, but we also have the added stress and strain for a lot of our colleagues who are really in some distress now over the rising cost of living.

While we cannot influence the national pay rates that are nationally collectively bargained, we have introduced some initiatives to support colleagues.

We have created a new section on Connect called Cost of Living Support where you can find a range of offers available to you including:

Discounts for travel on public transport

  • National Express are now offering up to 10 per cent discount on bus fares for Trust colleagues through the ‘National Express NHS Portal.’
  • Additional discounts are also available to some local rail journeys and the West Midlands Metro service.
  • We are also looking at other support we can offer to colleagues who use public transport to get to work.

Free staff car parking and support with mileage

  • Car parking continues to be free for staff on our main hospital sites.
  • We are also tracking the average cost of petrol and diesel and paying mileage rates that are much higher than we used to pay.

Catering discounts

  • Discounts are available from our catering outlets – including daily a meal deal at £1.50 per portion.
  • Very soon we will also introduce high quality 24-hour hot food vending machines – look out for details.

Pop-up shop opening at City

  • We are opening a pop-up shop at Sheldon Block, ground floor at City on Tuesday 6 December selling cheap grocery items including tea, pasta, cereal, washing up liquid and toilet rolls and much more. It will be open every Tuesday, 10am – 2pm and every Thursday, 2pm – 6pm and will be staffed by our volunteers.

School uniform swop shop

  • Our school uniform swop shop has really taken off. It is intended to help families manage the cost of new school uniforms by rehoming preloved uniforms as well as reducing the number of good quality clothing items that are unnecessarily discarded. Thank you to colleagues who have donated so many items already. Please do take time to visit the shop to see what is available, you can find it on Corridor A, above Main Reception at City Hospital (the room between the Wellbeing room and IT room).
  • Please consider donating to the shop to avoid waste and help some of our colleagues in this time of financial crisis. Donation points are available at:
    • City: Old management block (ground floor)
    • Sandwell: Trinity House entrance
    • Rowley: Ask at reception

 Financial support

  • We are proud to be a Real Living Wage employer and have been for many years. We are now planning to rollout ‘Wage Stream’,  an app that enables you to draw down some of your salary to help with unexpected expenses.
  • There are also a number of great salary sacrifice schemes such as the technology benefits which is now open until 19 December. It offers a chance to take home the latest technology and spread the cost, with affordable monthly payments from your salary.

SWB Benefits portal

  • Look for everyday discounts for a variety of products and services via the SWB Benefits portal.

Local authority support

  • We have gathered information on support available from local authorities and charities which you can see on the cost of living page on Connect.

To access these resources and much more please visit Connect.

We will continue to add to these offers over the next few weeks and months.