Fife charity which supports hospital patients and staff unveils new name

Fife Health Board Endowment Fund has become the Fife Health Charity.

Founded more than 70 years ago, it has supported countless initiatives for the benefit of patients and healthcare workers in the Kingdom.

All donations made to hospitals are held by the charity, with more than 350 different funds for various wards and departments across the Kingdom.

It also funds additional items which would not ordinarily be purchased using core NHS budgets.

A Board of Trustees makes awards on all applications for funding over £10,000. Last year, it gave out over £1 million to support local initiatives.

To help the charity to modernise, healthcare staff were tasked with selecting a new name and logo.

Tricia Marwick, who chairs the board of trustees as well as NHS Fife, said: “Our charity 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, it has been able to provide invaluable support to local patients and NHS staff during the most challenging health emergency in generations.”

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The charity’s work has gained particular prominence over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic due to the sharp rise in donations, including one of £500,000 from an anonymous donor which has helped support a huge variety of initiatives over recent months.

The charity has supplied wards in Fife hospitals with more than 100 tablet computers to enable patients to video call friends and loved ones during their stay when visiting is not permitted, whilst also supplying toiletries, magazines and other items to make stay more bearable.

It has 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.

Its small grants programme is currently funding 43 projects totalling £157,000.

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