Member Article

National Payroll Week: Blood…but no sweat or tears!

This week marks the annual celebration of all things payroll: National Payroll Week. In honour of this, Gateshead based Cintra HR & Payroll Services has organised a day of donating for its ever willing and generous staff.

Having previously organised a company blood donation day, the inventive staff at Cintra decided to take things one step further this time round. Donating blood is undoubtedly a vital and worthwhile gesture, however making sure that blood gets to where it is needed in an emergency is also key…and that’s where Northumbria Blood Bikes come in.

Northumbria Blood Bikes is a registered charity established by local volunteers to deliver essential blood and urgent medical supplies, out of hours, between hospitals and other healthcare sites in North East England. Outside normal office hours, hospitals rely on taxis or couriers to transfer urgent medical supplies or test samples between hospitals and other sites. Blood Bike groups, across the country, offer to carry out this service free of charge, ensuring the limited resources of the NHS can be used where it makes a difference.

In June 2017 Northumbria Blood Bikes was the proud recipient of The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service - the MBE for voluntary groups and Cintra was keen to support their endeavours.

Overwhelmed by the response, the local National Blood Service Donation Centre had to reserve a whole day for Cintra employees to visit and give blood. In addition staff brought in a huge selection of tasty treats to fuel the donors and raise funds for Northumbria Blood Bikes in the process. The money raised will kit out one of the bikes with a brand new, state of the art satellite navigation system; helping to get life-saving support where it is needed as quickly as possible.

Commenting on his staff’s generosity and enthusiasm to participate, CEO Carsten Staehr said: “The team at Cintra make me proud on a daily basis. This is a double whammy too…with staff not only donating blood but raising money to help Northumbria Blood Bikes get that blood to where it is needed urgently. Going that extra mile really is second nature to our staff and once again they have demonstrated their willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty in support of others!”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Cintra HR & Payroll Services Ltd .