A charitable trust dedicated to improving health outcomes in the Waikato region has been named a finalist in the 2025 Waikato Chamber of Commerce Business Awards.
Braemar Charitable Trust has been working for more than 50 years to advance health outcomes in the Waikato region, and in September was announced as a finalist in the awards’ ‘For Purpose’ category. This category recognises excellence in not-for-profit organisations that apply commercial strategies to maximise improvements in community wellbeing, reinvesting profit or surplus to achieve its social mission.
Trust Manager Paula Baker says being named a finalist was a wonderful surprise and an opportunity to reflect on how far the Trust has come since it was established in 1970 as the 100% shareholder of Hamilton’s Braemar Hospital.
“The Trust has always been dedicated to enabling access to healthcare for those who need it most, and over time we’ve been able to move to a space where we can be really coordinated and strategic in how we effect change,” says Paula.
“As we’ve grown, we’ve been able to stay connected to our community and understand the areas of unmet and unseen need and look for ways we can help alleviate pressure in those areas.”
This includes working alongside other community providers to provide free colonoscopies, children’s specialist dental surgery, general surgery, gynaecology, minor plastics, and children’s ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) surgery, as well as training and upskilling GPs on procedures they can perform in their own practices.
Paula says it’s all thanks to the relationships the Trust has with specialists, surgeons, anaesthetists, Braemar Hospital staff, community providers and other supporters.
“Without a doubt it is our authentic and trusted relationships with those who share our vision that have contributed to the impact the Trust has been able to have. Many of these people volunteer their time and expertise, and have done so for many years, and we simply couldn’t do what we do without them.”
Trust Chair Vicky McLennan agrees, citing the hundreds of people the Trust has helped as proof of its strong relationships with like-minded supporters.
“Our community surgery programme is perhaps our strongest example of this, where since April this year alone we’ve helped 115 people access the care they might have otherwise been waiting a very long time for.
“We know accessing health services isn’t easy when we have a health system under pressure. We are in a unique position in that we own a private hospital, and we can contribute pragmatically to help the wider system, and address timeliness of care, therefore taking some of that pressure off the public system.”
With donations, the support of community-based funders, and procedures performed for free by surgeons and anaesthetists, the Trust can enable free community surgeries for people who meet its criteria. To meet the criteria, patients will likely have been declined or face extensive wait times in the public system, and have no health insurance, ACC cover, or the means to pay for private treatment.
Vote for Braemar Charitable Trust for the People’s Choice Award here.
