New Victoria Hospital in Kingston is offering £125,000 worth of free medical care to patients in the local community to celebrate turning 125 June 2023. 

The independent hospital, founded in 1898, has launched a Community Champion Initiative to support the wider patient community. 

CEO David Marshall said: "We thought could this be the start of some fundraising campaign of going out to the world and offering services for free. if it does take off then we might see if we can engage with suppliers in and around kIngston who donate money to a fund to continue the mission."

Marshall added: "What I'd like to see happen is that if we put in a pound, our partners would also put in a pound."

New Victoria is keen to hear from anyone with a "compelling" story who faces the daily struggle of debilitating physical or mental conditions. The hospital said those who "keep pushing through their symptoms and fight for a good quality of life is encouraged to apply". 

Still subjected to CQC requirements, independent hospitals are not part of the NHS are therefore services have to be paid for. New Victoria Hospital raised the £125,000 on their own through successful years of service and investment.

The Community Fund will cover medical expenses for selected applicants who need healthcare services provided by New Victoria Hospital that include:

• Consultations
• Diagnostic examinations
• Treatment and outpatient procedures
• Surgery

Tracing back the history of the private hospital 

Marsh admitted he did not realise the hospital was 125 years old. He said: "We found a box in the loft above my office and found all these old documents.

"It was only going through the documents that I realised we were originally in Kingston Victoria Hospital in the December of 1898."

Originally funded by donations, the Victoria Hospital was a voluntary hospital formed by a group of local GPs and community doctors to serve the sick and the dying for free. 

When the NHS was formed in 1948, the metropolitan board decided to take independent hospitals ad subsume them within to the NHS.

The group of doctors and GPs in Victoria Hospital battled for two years to stop this from happening. They lost the battle and in 1921 the hospital was taken over by Kingston Hospital.

These group of doctors and GPs rallied the medical community and set up their own hospital with the same purposes as that of 1898. They bought the Coombe Manor through public donations of £10,000 in 1954, then raised some more money and started converting it into a hospital. The New Victoria hospital was opened in 1958. 

The whole purpose of the medical community was to establish a hospital in the community with the same objectives of 1898. Marshall said: "It was to continue to provide free care to those who deserved it, the sick and the dying, for free." 

It became apparent in the late 60s as that as the services of the hospital expanded, the hospital would have the charge for a commercial rate for the beds. The charitable ethos remained and patients suffering financial hardship were often treated on a pro-bono basis. Later in the 70s, it became a fee-paying private hospital. 

CEO David Marshall of New Victoria Hospital. (Photo: New Victoria Hospital)

Marshall: "We thought we will go back in time and put back into the community of £125,000 of free care as a way of saying thank you for keeping us going and keeping us independent.

"We're fiercely proud of being an independent charitable hospital."

Details for applications

Applications will be assessed from a clinical and ethical perspective by an appointed selection committee made up of local community ambassadors, members of the Hospital's Medical Advisory Committee, Hospital staff, Hospital board directors and The Victoria Foundation trustees, the parent charity of the Hospital. 

Applicants can apply for themselves or for a friend or family member with their consent.

To be considered for the Community Champion Initiative Fund, applications must be submitted by the 11th of September 2023 via the New Victoria Hospital website. Selected applicants will be contacted by the 2nd of October 2023, and early applications are strongly recommended, especially for urgent cases.

For more information or questions on the Community Champion Initiative, email [email protected].