Kind-hearted staff from the Department for Work and Pensions based in Woodside, have raised more than £3,000 to support the life-saving work of Wirral’s Neonatal Unit.

For the past two months, a team of dedicated women from the DWP’s child maintenance division have thrown themselves into fundraising towards specialist care provided at Arrowe Park Hospital for fragile babies who are born premature and sick in Wirral, Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales.

Cake sales, making tea and coffee, a dress down day and a colouring competition were just some of the activities organised by the group.

A huge raffle, with prizes that included a weekend away and signed football memorabilia, along with a fun May Fair event received fantastic support from colleagues and helped to bring their final total to an impressive £3,169.

The money raised will help to buy new equipment to care for newborn babies who have been delivered very early or who are poorly needing specialist care.

It is the second time that the ladies have raised funds for the Neonatal Unit, which they described as “touching the hearts of everyone” involved.

Jacqui Morgan, neonatal matron for Wirral Women and Children’s Hospital said: “We care for around 350 poorly babies every year and have helped babies born as early as 23 weeks to survive.

"With our services now covering a much wider area, we are becoming increasingly busy so there is a real need for public donation and support to help buy pieces of equipment and support training and research that will improve the quality of care we provide.

“Donations also help us to provide comfortable surroundings for parents, some of whom spend many months visiting their baby in very difficult circumstances whilst they are cared for on the unit. This money will make a big difference to our special care babies and on behalf of my team and the families we support, I’d like to say a huge thank you to the ladies from DWP for their hard work and generosity.”

To find out more about how you can help Wirral Women and Children’s Hospital Neonatal Unit visit www.wuth.nhs.uk and search ‘Support Neonatal’.