SOVEREIGN Health Care has donated £10,000 each to Bradford Teaching Hospital Foundation Trust and Bradford District Care Trust.

The Bradford-based health care cash plan provider has supported the trusts for the last ten consecutive years, with its annual hospital and nurse training grants, as well as provision for staff recognition initiatives and other projects.

Sovereign Health Care’s donations to both Bradford trusts along with five other West Yorkshire hospital trusts total more than £650,000 over the decade. This year’s gift is the largest annual donation to-date, made in celebration of the NHS’s 70th birthday.

Karen Dawber, Chief Nurse of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are delighted and grateful that once again Sovereign Health Care has chosen our trust as one of their nominated charities, and as in previous years, this very generous donation will be put to very good use."

Sovereign Health Care has no shareholders, so any surplus is reinvested into the business or donated to good causes, particularly those that help improve health and wellbeing and encourage people to live healthy lifestyles, such as the NHS. As well as its annual grants – which go towards hospital funding and nurse training programmes – Sovereign’s work fundamentally supports the NHS year-round, by helping people be more proactive about their health via its cash plans.

Brent Kilmurray, chief executive at Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust, added: “It is wonderful to receive this generous donation. Last year, with Sovereign’s support, we were able to fund several projects to further develop the skills of our staff.

"Some of these projects included hosting visiting nurses from Romania who came to learn about best practice in mental healthcare; sending members of our family nurse partnership team to a national conference to help us to further develop the support that we provide to young mums locally; and providing funding for ten of our health visitors to become members of the Institute for Health Visiting, enabling them to access and share the latest evidence-based research and information. We are grateful for the support of Sovereign Health Care which enables us to develop both our staff and the services we provide."

Sovereign Health Care, which celebrated its 145th birthday in 2018, is one of the UK’s longest established health care cash plan providers. Their Community Programme has donated more than £5.8 million in the last 10 years to support a wide range of charities and projects which benefit communities across West Yorkshire.

Russ Piper, chief executive of Sovereign Health Care, said: “We’re extremely proud of our long history of working collaboratively with the NHS, not only in supporting local hospitals and nurse training, but also in our actual commercial business of providing cash plans.

“Not all treatment provided through the NHS is free, with dental treatment being the obvious example. Our cash plans help individuals meet the cost of everyday health care regardless of how it is accessed, ensuring quality outcomes for all concerned.”

For more information about Sovereign Health Care’s Community Programme, visit www.sovereignhealthcare.co.uk/about/community-programme.