Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust Charitable Fund and Related Charities

MY Hospitals Charity, formally the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust Charitable Fund and Related Charities, was registered in 1998 and rebranded in 2008 to support patients and staff at the Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust hospitals in Wakefield, Pontefract, and Dewsbury. Its mission is to raise and manage funds for extras beyond standard NHS provision, enhancing patient care, wellbeing, and staff development through amenities, innovation, and facilities improvements. Guided by values of public benefit, inclusion, equality, and sustainability, it is governed by the Trust’s Charitable Fund Committee, ensuring donor-aligned stewardship and alignment with trust priorities like clinical needs and workforce resilience.

The charity funds patient-focused projects such as memorial gardens, paediatric tech like 3D pain distraction systems, children's ward enhancements, iPads for family contact, and staff initiatives including training, wellbeing programs, water fountains, and equipment for cancer or burns care. Beneficiaries are exclusively Trust patients (over half a million served) and staff, with grants prioritizing transformative impacts on experience, innovation, and holistic support in acute and community services.

Eligibility is restricted to Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust staff and departments; external charities are not accepted unsolicited but may partner on Trust-led projects. No income or size limits apply, but proposals must target non-statutory needs within the Wakefield, Pontefract, and Dewsbury footprint. Grants typically range £1,000–£25,000 (most £2,000–£15,000), applied for via phone consultation with the Fundraising Team, followed by a Charitable Funds Approval form emailed for quarterly committee review—decisions take weeks to three months, with no fixed deadlines.

Distinctively integrated with the NHS Trust, it avoids core funding or unrestricted external grants, focusing instead on responsive, community-driven enhancements that NHS budgets cannot cover, evidenced by partnerships like NHS Charities Together for Covid support.