Nursing staff at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) are planning a dramatic new look in memory of a colleague who died suddenly from a suspected epileptic fit.

A charity has been created at QEHB in the name of Staff Nurse Safina Ali, who was just 28 when she was found dead at her home earlier in 2012.

The Safina Ali Charity Fund is now hoping to collect hundreds of pounds in aid of an epilepsy charity by organising its first major fund-raising event.

During the month of November, male staff working in Ambulatory Care, the Admissions Lounge, and Wellcome Short Stay Unit will be growing moustaches.

But, in order not to be left out, the female staff who make up the vast majority of the 120-strong combined team are planning to wear false moustaches every Friday in November in memory of their much-missed colleague.

The fund-raising effort will then be followed almost immediately by a memorial service to be held within Ambulatory Care on Sunday 2 December, to be attended by Safina’s friends and colleagues.

Sue Ward, Ambulatory Care Matron, said: “There was such a sense of shock and disbelief when Safi died.

“We all knew that she had epilepsy, but she was a young woman in her 20s, so it was a really big shock to us all. I have never seen so many tears as when we broke the news to all the staff.

“She was such a valued member of the team, one of us, so we want the memorial service to be a celebration of her life.”

Safina, who passed away in January, will also be remembered following plans to name a staff resource room after the nurse, who lived in Weoley Castle.

The Safina Ali Resource Room will also be decked out in new purple furniture because that was her favourite colour.

Added Sue: “We are a really big team of more than a hundred nurses where everyone knows everyone. So, when we were making arrangements for the funeral, a lot of staff said they wanted to do something in her memory.

“Safi was a charity fundraiser for epilepsy, so we decided that we would set up this charity in her memory and raise money for the cause that she supported when she was alive.”

Safina was due to take part in a charity walk along the Great Wall of China later this year in aid of Epilepsy Action, but her boyfriend has since vowed to fill her place.

Sue said the idea for the moustache growing event came from nurse Matt Groombridge.

“He said that he and some of his male colleagues were planning to grow moustaches in Safi’s memory. But, we didn’t want to be left out so myself and one of my staff nurses, Lynn Lawlor, decided that we would wear false moustaches every Friday during November.

“People keep leaving them in my office, and some have actually started making their own. I just hope that the male staff shave off their moustaches once November is over.”

To support the Safina Ali Charity Fund please visit the JustGiving website.