West Yorkshire-based Sovereign Health Care announced making donations of more than a quarter of a million pounds to the NHS across Yorkshire in 2020. Sovereign donated a total of £276,000 to Yorkshire Trusts as part of its ongoing commitment to supporting health services in the region, with the funding helping to boost staff training and morale, and develop new infrastructure in a year where the NHS has faced unprecedented challenges and staff pressures.
The NHS Trusts receiving donations this year have included Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust, Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, and Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. The £276,000 has helped to fund initiatives including nursing training and development programmes, NHS staff recognition awards and investment in new services and treatment units.
Russ Piper, chief executive of Sovereign Health Care, said: “Never in our long history of supporting the NHS have we experienced a year like 2020, where our amazing NHS staff have worked relentlessly under the extreme pressure of a global pandemic. It’s at times like this when we are particularly proud to make this level of donation, firstly to recognise and thank the people who put their lives on the line to save those of others, but also to help fund important staff training and investment in essential non-Covid services.”
As a not-for-profit company, Sovereign is able to actively donate the equivalent of between 5 and 10 per cent of its annual turnover through its Community Programme, which supports charities, groups and organisations that work to improve the health and wellbeing of those living in West Yorkshire. The NHS is a major beneficiary of this programme, with Sovereign donating almost £2 million to NHS organisations over the last 13 years.
Dame Linda Pollard, Chair of Leeds Teaching Hospitals, said: “The support we receive from Sovereign Health Care is invaluable. It allows us to go that one step further in some of the developments we have put in place around nurse training and development and particularly in this year, provide that extra support our teams need to help them through what has been an extremely demanding and difficult year.”
Alongside its Community Programme donations, Sovereign Health Care also supports the NHS through its commercial business. Its health care cash plans help reduce pressure on the NHS by encouraging policyholders to be more proactive about managing their health, making accessing treatment more affordable.
Sovereign Health Care was established 147 years ago and is one of the UK’s longest established providers of health care cash plans to individuals and businesses, with approximately 75,000 customers across the UK.
For more information about Sovereign Health Care’s Community Programme, visit www.sovereignhealthcare.co.uk/about/community-programme