In 1946, the Minister of Health for England and Wales, Aneurin Bevan, condemned the extent to which a significant part of the UK’s hospital system was dependent on the ‘caprice of private charity’.  However, charity – and voluntarism more generally – have continued to play a significant role in the development of healthcare within the UK’s National Health Service. During the pandemic, the remarkable impact of NHS Charities Together’s Urgent COVID-19 Appeal demonstrated the continuing relevance of charitable money in the NHS today.   

Abstract submission: closes 26 April 2024

We invite abstract submissions for papers from academic researchers, policy-makers and practitioners which actively engage with questions about the role of charity in healthcare systems. Although our own project has focused on developments within the UK, we also welcome papers which address these issues from a more international perspective. Papers might address questions including (but not limited to):  

• What ethical issues are generated by charitable finance in health-care, and how might organisations respond to the dilemmas these pose?  
• Who defines the aspects of healthcare provision that are ‘essential’, or are ‘nice-to-have’?  
• To what extent has charity played a particular role either in pioneering the development of new services or directing attention to the needs of so-called ‘Cinderella' services?  
• How have attitudes to fundraising, and fundraising practices in healthcare, changed over the years?  
• What role has charity played in ‘embedding’ hospitals and other healthcare facilities within their communities, and what role does it continue to play?  
• What roles have businesses and corporations played in relation to charitable income in the NHS? 
• What impact has charitable funding had within broader patterns of healthcare expenditure?  
• What can debates about the role of charity within healthcare reveal about the attitudes of different political parties towards the role of voluntarism more broadly?   

More details and full call for papers available on the project website: https://more.bham.ac.uk/border-crossings/future-project-events/.