A local charity which supports patients and healthcare staff in Fife has been relaunched under a brand new name.
The Fife Health Charity, which was previously known at the Fife Health Board Endowment Fund, was founded more than 70 years ago and has supported countless initiatives for the benefit of patients and healthcare workers in the Kingdom.
All donations made to hospitals in Fife are held by the Fife Health Charity, with more than 350 different funds for the various wards and departments across the Kingdom. The Charity funds additional items which would not ordinarily be purchased using core NHS budgets.
A Board of Trustees is responsible for the governance of the Charity and makes awards on all applications for funding over £10,000. Last year, the Charity awarded over £1 million to support local initiatives.
In order to assist the Charity to modernise, healthcare staff in Fife were tasked with selecting a new name. A new logo was also chosen which illustrates the symbolic wrapping round of arms, which was thought to be a fitting symbol of the support the Charity provides.
The work of the Fife Health Charity has gained particular prominence over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic due to the sharp rise in donations to the charity, including a single donation of £500,000 from an anonymous donor which has helped support a variety of initiatives over recent months.
With hospital visiting suspended across Scotland’s hospitals for much of last year, the Charity was able to supply wards in Fife’s hospitals with more than 100 tablet computers to enable patients to video call friends and loved ones, whilst also supplying toiletries, magazines and other items to make their hospital stay more bearable.
The Charity also made four-figure donations to both Blood Bikes Scotland and Maggie’s Fife in recognition of the support they had provided during the first phase of the pandemic.
More recently, the Charity pledged £200,000 to create a permanent staff wellbeing hub at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy and has agreed in principle to fund hubs in other healthcare sites in Fife. In addition, the Charity’s Small Grant Programme is currently funding 43 smaller projects totalling £157,000, all of which will support the welfare of patients, their families and friends.
Last year the Fife Health Charity also became a member of NHS Charities Together, which was made famous by fundraising efforts of ‘Captain Tom’ Moore, who raised millions for NHS-affiliated charities across the UK. Through this relationship, the Fife Health Charity has already received around £150,000.
Rt Hon Tricia Marwick, who combines her position as the Chair of NHS Fife with her role as the Chair of the Fife Health Charity’s Board of Trustees, said:
“Our Charity has been going strong for more than 70 years and has funded a huge range of initiatives over that time which have benefitted healthcare staff and patients.
“Perhaps now more than at any point in its long history, the Charity has been able to provide invaluable support to local patients and NHS staff during the most challenging health emergency in generations.
“Prior to the start of the pandemic we began consulting with healthcare staff about how we could look to modernise the appearance of the charity to better reflect the work that it does.
“By rebranding ourselves as the Fife Health Charity, we have done exactly that and the new ‘wrapped arms’ emblem really captures the support we hope to offer patients and staff alike.”
Find out more about some of the other projects funded by the Fife Health Charity at: https://www.nhsfife.org/get-involved/fife-health-charity/
