Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust Charitable Funds

Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust Charitable Funds, known as Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Charity, is an NHS-integrated charity dedicated to transforming patient, family, and staff experiences across the Trust's hospitals in Calderdale and Kirklees. It channels public donations into enhancements beyond core NHS funding, emphasizing partnership, community engagement, ethical governance, and direct impact on health and wellbeing. With trustees from the NHS Foundation Trust, its mission focuses on creating exceptional outcomes through innovative projects, guided by a 'public perception test' to ensure appropriate use of funds.

The charity prioritizes tangible improvements like medical equipment (e.g., scalp cooling for chemotherapy), care environment upgrades (gardens, bereavement suites, family rooms), mental health support (Hope Bags for youth, Rays of Sunshine for children), staff training and welfare that boosts patient care, and community initiatives tied to Trust sites. Beneficiaries include Trust patients, families, visitors, staff, children, young people, the elderly, and local residents, with special funds for areas like special care baby units and postgraduate education.

Eligibility is strictly internal: only NHS Trust staff, departments, or clinical teams in Calderdale and Kirklees can apply, demonstrating projects' additionality to statutory services. No external charities or unsolicited applications. Grants range from £1,000–£50,000, awarded on a rolling basis via internal forms reviewed by charity committees at regular intervals, with no fixed deadlines.

It excludes routine NHS costs, core funding for unrelated organizations, and anything failing the public benefit test. Distinctively, its deep Trust alignment, flexible response to local needs (e.g., COVID-19), and staff-community collaboration make it a mission-critical partner for frontline health enhancements in these specific locales.