Message from our Chairman

Welcome to the UCLH Charity’s Annual Report, an overview of how we have made a difference to patient care at UCLH, together with our detailed accounts for 2018/19.

In July 2018, the NHS turned 70 and we reflected with enormous pride on all it has achieved. The birthday celebrations also prompted an opportunity to look forward and think about what the NHS would look like in the next 70 years. With NHS charities giving £1m every day to support the work of the health service, philanthropy’s long involvement in supporting patient care is set to continue. Our overall contribution to UCLH in the period covered by this report was £11.2m.

As you will see from this report, we are supporting UCLH in many different ways. We have invested in the new electronic health record system (EHRS) which will help deliver safer, more efficient care as well as optimising UCLH’s research potential. We have also funded several new and innovative projects, such as pioneering spinal surgery in the womb which features on our front cover, and the NHS’ first health play specialist for people with learning disabilities and autism.

We recognise that the NHS needs to work as part of the wider community to meet the significant health challenges we face today. With the cooperation of Camden Council, we are funding a project involving Redthread, a specialist youth work charity. Dedicated workers will be embedded into the UCLH emergency department and will provide young people experiencing youth violence and knife crime with multi-agency support at an early stage. We hope UCLH can enable these young people to go on to lead healthy, safe lives. We are also helping UCLH to sustain its financial future by assisting the Trust’s drive to maximise funds through philanthropic giving. In March we were delighted to recognise the Dangoor family’s significant contribution to a new clinical immunotherapy centre through their Exilarch’s Foundation.

It is an enormous privilege to be chair of UCLH Charity and to support Trust colleagues. It has been a very challenging year for them but their commitment, dedication and meticulous planning has ensured that the switching on of the EHRS – one of the most ambitious, large scale IT projects ever undertaken at UCLH – was a success.

I would like to thank my fellow trustees and the charity’s team for their contributions and commitment. We continue to work with UCLH as it innovates and strives for excellence in all that it does. Together we have done much, and will aim to do so much more.

James Thorne Chairman