League of Friends to the Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital

The League of Friends to the Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital, founded in 1961, is a community-driven charity dedicated to raising funds and providing voluntary support to enhance patient care at the RJAH Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Oswestry, Shropshire—one of the UK's leading specialist orthopaedic centres. Rooted in values of compassion, partnership, and excellence, it mobilises over 300 volunteers across clinical and support areas through a unique network of branches in Shropshire and Mid/North Wales, enabling tangible improvements beyond NHS funding. Recognised with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, its distinctive approach emphasises direct collaboration with hospital staff, patients, and donors to deliver world-class orthopaedic care and wellbeing initiatives.

It prioritises funding advanced medical equipment (e.g., endoscopic kits, imaging tools), facility refurbishments (e.g., hydrotherapy pools, wards, coffee shops), patient amenities, staff wellbeing, volunteering programmes like 'Future Friends', and orthopaedic research advancements. Beneficiaries are exclusively current/former patients, families, carers, staff, and volunteers at RJAH, with efforts occasionally targeting underrepresented groups.

Unsolicited applications are not accepted; eligibility is limited to internal hospital projects identified via trustee, staff, and branch consultations—no external charities or organisations qualify, regardless of size, income, or location beyond RJAH's Shropshire/Mid-North Wales focus. Grants vary from small items (e.g., care products) to major capital projects (tens/hundreds of thousands of pounds), with annual expenditure £400,000–£600,000; decisions are rolling via ongoing meetings, not public deadlines. Exclusions include all external causes, core/revenue funding, or non-RJAH activities, underscoring its hyper-localised, hospital-embedded philanthropy.