WELCOME

The NHS is famously a state-run health service, yet it has always made space for some charitable activities. These include some of the wealthiest charities in the country. The boundaries between state-run and charitably-run activities have shifted over the decades. What difference do these unusual charitable actors make, and how should policy manage them in the future?

In our research programme, we will study how health policy has understood, and sought to change, the role of charities in the NHS. We will analyse the amount and distribution of charitable fundraising for NHS charities. Finally, we will study a selection of NHS charities, both historically, and in the present day. Together, we will develop a collective account of the effects, both positive and problematic, of these organisations in the UK health system. This will change understandings of the NHS, and inform suggestions for the future of charities in the NHS.

This project is extremely timely. Resource pressures have repeatedly stimulated debate about the potential contribution of charity to health services, but claims about the positive and negative aspects of charitable effort are often partisan and lacking in evidence. Our comprehensive and original programme of research will provide an essential dispassionate analysis, and its results will be highly relevant to stakeholders in the NHS, charities and their supporters, politicians, and all with an interest in informed debate about the contribution of charitable initiative in the welfare state.

This research has been funded by a Wellcome Trust Collaborative Award in Humanities and Social Science (£1.4 million). It will run from 2020 – 2024.

The team is led by 4 Principal Investigators (PI’s): Professor John Mohan (University of Birmingham), Dr Ellen Stewart (University of Strathclyde), Professor Martin Gorsky (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine), and Professor Bernard Harris (University of Strathclyde).

Contact us: h.s.bodenhamchilton@bham.ac.uk