What is an NHS Charity?
NHS Charities provide extra care and support for NHS patients and staff, enabling health services to do more. We do not replace core funding, we enhance what is already available, providing additional support that prevents ill health and improves services for patients and staff.
We are the legal way the NHS receives, holds and spends charitable funds, and are dedicated to solely supporting the NHS. We exist for the benefit of current and future NHS patients and staff.
As the official charity of NHS Lothian, we are the only charity dedicated to supporting all of NHS Lothian’s work, all its staff and all the patients and families it cares for. We work in strategic partnership with our NHS Lothian colleagues and other partners to support ways to make the hospital environment a more welcoming place to be, make a patient’s stay more comfortable, fund additional equipment or technology that can help speed up recovery but is not part of core delivery, support the emotional and physical wellbeing of staff, and fund research that could have the potential to transform the way that care is delivered.
We are here to strengthen NHS Lothian’s ability to excel for the communities it serves. The support we provide, combined with our expertise and experience, helps create opportunities that enable NHS Lothian to foster innovation, explore ideas and transform healthcare. Together, we make healthcare better.
Find out more about some of the amazing projects we’ve supported
Helping Unlock Important Financial Support When Circumstances Change Due to Ill Health
Our hospital-based advice service has now helped secure over £5 million in financial support through benefits and other social security entitlements for patients, carers and staff.
From Diagnosis to Discovery: How Your Support Is Changing Breast Cancer Care
Every day at the Edinburgh Cancer Centre, life-changing conversations take place. The Breast Unit at the Centre is the largest and busiest in the UK, with around 840 people diagnosed with breast cancer each year. For nearly one in three patients, the cancer has already spread or returned.
How Donors are Helping Young Adults with Chronic Kidney Disease Feel Seen, Supported and Less Alone
For young adults living with chronic kidney disease (CKD), life can feel isolating. Hospital appointments dominate everyday life, plans are interrupted by fatigue, and many struggle to explain their condition or hide it completely out of fear of being treated differently.
How Nature Resource Boxes Are Supporting Patient Recovery at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
For people recovering from a stroke or living with limited mobility, the calming, restorative power of nature can feel out of their reach.