Sovereign have very kindly chosen to support our charity again this year.
We are always amazed at peoples generousity even in these tough financial times!
Here is a little info about Sovereign:
The Bradford Hospital Fund was founded in 1873 with the purpose of raising funds for local hospitals. This was in the days before the creation of the National Health Service (NHS) when all hospitals were run as charities.
Hospital funds or hospital plans, as they were also known, played a vital role in providing a consistent stream of funding to help with the smooth day to day running of these organisations. During the 1930s, Bradford Hospital Fund was providing up to 40% of the income needed to run the Bradford Royal Infirmary.
The hospital plans raised money through contribution schemes, members paid a small weekly amount into the fund and in return received free treatment from the local hospital when they needed it. This was an early form of the private medical insurance schemes that are commonplace today.
The creation of the NHS in 1948 meant that people no longer had to pay into a scheme in order to receive hospital treatment and many of the hospital plans closed overnight. The Bradford Hospital Fund kept going and adapted to the changing needs of its customers, switching to focus on everyday health care costs.This straightforward approach proved to be popular and over the years has been developed into the health care cash plan that is on offer today.
Bradford Hospital Fund is now known as Sovereign Health Care and is one of the leading suppliers of health care plans to both individuals and organisations throughout the UK. The Sovereign Health Care Charitable Trust continues the tradition started by the hospital fund in 1873 and donates over £500,000 each year to health related charities and organisations. In the past 6 years it has donated over £3.5 million to these causes.
