Fourteen questions, answered plainly.

We are an independent registered charity (number 220038) that supports Yeovil District Hospital. The hospital is run by Somerset NHS Foundation Trust. We are not part of the trust and we are not part of the NHS — we are a charity that raises money to buy medical equipment and patient comforts that the NHS budget cannot reach in a given year.

Donations to the Friends fund the annual equipment list agreed each summer with the medical director, plus the bedside comforts on the trolley round and the small Staff Haven welfare projects on the wards. Last year (FY ending 30 September 2024) we spent £473,690 on direct patient care. Every item is listed in our annual report and labelled physically on the ward for its first year.

Yes. When you donate, write the programme name in the ‘notes’ field — for example, ‘Equipment Appeal’, ‘Bedside Comforts’, or ‘Staff Haven’. We will ring-fence your donation accordingly and report against it. We are not able to ring-fence donations to a specific patient.

Yes. If you are a UK taxpayer, Gift Aid adds 25p in the pound at no cost to you. Complete the Gift Aid declaration on the donate page, or download the form from our Resources page. We will keep your declaration on file until you ask us to remove it.

Your solicitor will need our registered charity number (220038) and our registered office address (22 Brocks Mount, Stoke-Sub-Hamdon, Somerset, TA14 6PJ). We are happy to discuss restricted legacies in person and in strict confidence. A short ‘Legacy guidance for executors’ PDF is available from the Resources page.

The Friends’ Café is on Level 2 of Yeovil District Hospital, a two-minute walk from the main concourse. It is open every day from 09.00 to 16.30 except Christmas Day.

The Friends’ shop is on the main concourse of Yeovil District Hospital and is open every day from 07.30 to 19.00 except Christmas Day. The shop is run by a paid manager (Tracey Knapp) and a rota of fourteen volunteers.

Yes. None of our six volunteer roles requires a clinical background. We give every new volunteer a careful induction and pair you with a regular for your first few shifts. We’ll feed you lunch on shift and pay your parking. See the Volunteer page for the roles and the application form.

Only the Bedside Comforts visitor role requires an enhanced DBS check. The shop, café and trolley roles do not. We pay for the DBS check and complete the paperwork for you.

Each summer the trustees meet with the medical director, the matron and the ward sisters. We agree a written list of equipment and comforts that will be funded in the coming year, with priorities and indicative costs. The list is published in the autumn annual report, fundraised against, and reconciled at year end. We do not fund equipment that has not been formally requested by clinical staff.

We do not fund medication for individual patients, NHS staff salaries, transport home after discharge, or care-home fees. We do not fund the trust’s research programmes, education, or any activity outside the hospital site. We are not able to make individual hardship grants and our 2019 discharge-grant pilot was closed because we could not meet the demand at our scale.

It is open to anyone. Many of our regulars are local people who come for the cake. The café is not a private space, although we ask that you keep voices low near the post-natal corridor.

For most enquiries, email [email protected] or telephone 01935 823960 during office hours (Mon–Fri, 09.00–17.00). For donor and Gift Aid questions, write to [email protected]. For press, write to [email protected].

Write to the Honorary Secretary at 22 Brocks Mount, Stoke-Sub-Hamdon, TA14 6PJ, or email [email protected] marked ‘for the Honorary Secretary, complaint’. We will acknowledge within five working days and reply within twenty-eight. Our full complaints policy is summarised in the volunteer handbook.