The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow's HOPE Foundation has just announced its first round of funding, awarding seven grants to a variety of organisations. The projects supported by these grants range from work in Glasgow to support homeless people to funding a doctor to provide healthcare in Amazonian Peru.  

The seven successful organisations that have been granted funding are:

  • Glasgow City Mission for the Winter Night Shelter
  • Medics Against Violence for a violence reduction Mindfulness project
  • Glasgow based Eiger Music for the Fit-as-a Fiddle project
  • ReSurge Africa for Noma Flap and Microsurgery Training in Accra, Ghana
  • Diabetic Foot Management Training in Malawi
  • Vine Trust for a volunteer physician to support outreach healthcare in Amazonian Peru
  • King's Kongo Central Partnership Safer Surgery Training.

The HOPE Foundation is a philanthropic fund of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, a charity registered in Scotland. Its purpose is to make a positive difference to the health of people living in challenging circumstances where access to quality healthcare is, for whatever reason, limited. The fund receives donations from the fellows, members and friends of the College to support projects that overcome barriers to quality healthcare locally, nationally and internationally.

The Glasgow Winter Night Shelter, like all the organisations awarded funding, will be able to make significant changes to the health of those most disadvantaged. "The Glasgow Winter Night Shelter provides a safe and warm place to sleep for those who would otherwise be sleeping rough during the coldest winter months,” said Lorna McIntosh, winter night shelter manager at the Glasgow City Mission. “The donation from the HOPE Foundation will help improve the health and wellbeing of some of the most vulnerable men and women in Glasgow who stay at the night shelter.”

Similarly, the Vine Trust, an international development charity, will be able to make significant progress with their efforts in establishing in long term health partnerships with local organisations to strengthen health systems and increasing access to primary healthcare to remote and vulnerable communities. “The grant awarded from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow's HOPE Foundation will be allocated directly to aiding the Amazon Hope programme in delivering more consultations to those in remote Amazonia with little or no access to healthcare in 2019,” said Emily Adams from the Vine Trust.