Braemar Charitable Trust has delivered 124% more free community surgeries year-on-year as part of its drive to improve health equity and access in the Waikato region.
The Trust is the 100% owner of Braemar Hospital, one of New Zealand’s largest private hospitals, and funds a range of charitable activities, including scholarships, health sector capability building, medical research and free community surgeries, all underpinned by an equity and access lens.
In the financial year ended 31 March 2025, the Trust enabled 159 free surgeries for those in need, a jump of 124% on the previous year. It spent $88,000 on associated costs but estimates these surgeries had a “real cost” of about $500,000.
Braemar Charitable Trust Chair Vicky McLennan says the end-of-year figures are impressive and a testament to a strong vision and great management, combined with generous support from clinicians, staff, other volunteers, and donors and funders.
“The Trust is driven to advance healthcare equity and access and to improve health outcomes in our communities. We’re very focused on delivering that through our five charitable pillars, and we’re in the unique position of being able to combine donated skills and funding with the ownership of the hospital to help us achieve that.”
Some highlights from the year ended 31 March 2025:
· $230,000 spent by the Trust on all its charitable activities in the year
· Funders pledged multi-year funding worth $318,000 for the Trust’s work
· 159 free community surgeries were delivered – up 124% on the previous year
· There was a massive 162% increase in referrals to the free surgery programme
· 712 hours were donated across the year by clinicians, hospital staff and others for free surgeries
· $87,796 was spent on community surgeries, a 24% increase on the previous year
· Four scholarships were funded during the year for University of Waikato students
Ms McLennan says that although the Trust has previously had a lower profile, it is more than 50 years old and has been positively impacting health in the wider Waikato region for many of those years. “I was at the first of our Saturday free community surgery days late last year and the comments from patients and their families were humbling. Their gratitude for the mahi from the Trust and volunteers was very evident; we’re grateful to be in such a unique position to change lives.”
Surgeons and anaesthetists credentialed to work at Braemar Hospital donate their time for the surgeries, and the Trust pays for nursing, drugs and consumables, with the hospital providing these at cost. The Trust recently launched an online “shop” with a menu of surgical procedures so donors can pay for a specific free surgery for a patient in need.
Already in the first two months of this year, the Trust has spent $20,000 on 37 free surgeries and procedures, through specialists adding free surgeries to the existing lists of patients they’re operating on at Braemar Hospital or through procedures provided at community based hauora days.
These are performed year-round as part of the Trust’s kaupapa of improving health equity and access, but the Trust is also planning another full day of free surgeries on Saturday 13 September. Referrals are made through GPs, specialists, nurse practitioners, dentists and front-line community groups.
The Trust has received three-year funding from the Clare Foundation to provide complex dental treatment for women in the six women’s refuges around the region, as well as for recent refugees in Hamilton. Other philanthropic funders such as the DV Bryant Trust and the Glenice and John Gallagher Foundation are also supporting the refugee dental pathway, as well as free professional development for GPs to enable them to perform minor plastic surgery and skin lesion removals in their rooms.
“We are so very grateful for the foresight of funders who want to support our pragmatic approach to enabling access to healthcare in our community,” Ms McLennan says. “I also want to thank the growing number of donors who are learning more about our work and want to be part of improving health outcomes; your support is appreciated by the Trust and the many people we help.”
Braemar Charitable Trust has made it simple for anyone to donate to its work via an online donations portal where donors can choose to fund a specific procedure for someone or make donations towards a scholarship or general fund, or research. To find out more, sign up here for news and updates
ENDS
Media inquiries – not for publication. For more information contact:
Paula Baker MNZM
Trust Manager, Braemar Charitable Trust
027 224 2316
