There’s nothing new about UK health charities taking on a major role in delivering services. Prior to 1948, British healthcare was provided through a patchwork of local charities, voluntary organisations, local authorities and private arrangements. Many hospitals depended on charitable donations, subscriptions and fundraising events to survive.
The creation of the NHS transformed this model. Most hospitals were brought into public ownership and funded through taxation. NHS founder Aneurin Bevan believed healthcare should not depend on charity, and restrictions were placed on NHS hospital charities actively raising money. But they did not disappear completely – they could still receive gifts and donations.
A major shift came with the Health Services Act 1980, which encouraged a more active fundraising culture. From then on, NHS charities expanded significantly and became increasingly professionalised. By the 1990s and beyond, they were raising substantial sums for equipment, buildings, research, and the likes of play areas in children’s wards and well-equipped staff rooms.
Today, distinct from charities devoted to particular diseases or conditions, there are now more than 220 NHS charities attached to hospitals or community services, which raise £620m a year.
Ellie Orton, chief executive of NHS Charities Together, which represents them, says that while this sum may sound high, it represents only around 0.3% of the health budget.
She says the very purpose of the charities is to provide support, equipment and services that are additional to what the NHS provides. Recent schemes involve things like CPR training for members of the public, defibrillators being placed in community venues and green spaces in hospitals.
But it is a fine line. Scanners, blood transfusion equipment and emergency department co-ordinators have also been funded by charities. Some would say say core NHS functions like these are exactly what we pay our taxes for.
Orton defends this. “It’s just the way it is now. We shouldn’t get too ideological about this. It’s not helpful to think the state can do everything. Yes we pay taxes but that has to cover lots – and it’s finite. If our fund-raising means a parent of an ill child can stay close to their child while they are in hospital in a room funded by a charity, why not?”
