Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals Health Charity

Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals Health Charity, publicly known as WISHH Charity (Working Independently to Support Hull Hospitals), is an independent charity established in 2016 to enhance healthcare at Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital within Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. Its core mission is to relieve sickness and promote public health by funding equipment, services, research, and environmental improvements beyond NHS capabilities, guided by values of public benefit, partnership, and commitment to elevating patient, family, staff, and volunteer experiences. Distinctively, it acts as a community catalyst, evolving from NHS supplementation to championing staff welfare, care innovation, and regional engagement, with 2023/24 expenditures including £336k on equipment, £160k on research, £58k on patient amenities, £49k on staff wellbeing, and £34k on building works.

It prioritizes patient welfare (e.g., paediatrics, oncology), staff health suites and programmes, advanced diagnostic equipment, clinical refurbishments, and hospital-based research fellowships, benefiting a 600,000-resident catchment in Hull and East Yorkshire, plus specialist services to 1.25 million.

Eligibility is strictly limited to hospital-initiated projects by staff, management, or users at the two named sites; external charities or groups qualify only via formal partnerships, with no unsolicited applications accepted. There are no income thresholds, religious restrictions, or entity specifications beyond NHS alignment.

Grants vary from thousands to hundreds of thousands of pounds for targeted, project-based awards, decided on a rolling basis via trustee review tied to hospital priorities—no fixed deadlines or public forms. WISHH excludes individuals, unrelated causes, core funding, or non-hospital projects, standing out for its tight NHS integration, rigorous approval, donor visibility, and responsive funding to challenges like COVID-19 and workforce retention.