Braemar Charitable Trust

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Braemar Charitable Trust

Braemar Trust is a Waikato-based charitable trust and the 100% shareholder of Braemar Hospital. https://www.braemartrust.co.nz/

Braemar Trust is a Waikato-based and focused charitable trust and the 100% shareholder of the Braemar Hospital, which has grown to be one of New Zealand’s leading private surgical hospitals. Our vision is to improve health outcomes for Waikato communities and in particular, apply our resources to improve health outcomes for people in our community who are the hardest to reach-those who suffer most

as a result of health disparities and face barriers to accessing health services. We seek to achieve our vision through five key pillars as outlined in our Trust Deed. One of these is the ownership of Braemar Hospital, the other four are outlined below:
1. Investment in medical research (achieved via the provision of research grants, scholarships, and workforce development).

2. The development of medical knowledge (achieved via the provision of funding and scholarships for health sector related education, clinical professional development and health leadership).

3. Investment in partnerships to improve health outcomes in the Waikato (achieved via the funding of organisations who are successfully reducing inequity and improving access to health care for people in our community).

4. The provision of free or subsidised medical assistance at Braemar Hospital for patients who do not otherwise qualify for treatment or whose needs are not being met in a timely way by the public health system, and do not have medical insurance nor the means of covering the cost of their treatment themselves. https://www.instagram.com/braemar_charitable_trust/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/braemar-charitable-trust/

27/05/2026

The earliest known hospitals were established in Medieval times to treat the 'sick and the poor'. By the 19th century this had grown into the concept of a 'voluntary hospital' which emerged in British and American colonies which ran on donations from the wealthy. Fast forward hundreds of years and that ethos largely remains the same among non-profit/for-purpose healthcare systems, a desire to simply help those who need it most.

In New Zealand, charitable healthcare has been around since the 19th century where in the 1880s it was common for early public hospitals to provide free care to those who could not pay.

We know a LOT has grown and changed in the healthcare system since then, and despite this very basic history of charitable healthcare, it's heartening to see the core intent remains the same, a commitment to improving health outcomes and meeting unmet need.

Next month our Trust Manager Paula Baker heads overseas as part of the Winston Churchill Fellowship programme to gather insights, understand best practice, and measure the impact of charity-owned surgical hospitals in the UK, a country with a long and proud history of charitable healthcare initiatives. We're excited to see what inspiration she will bring back to apply in our own region as we continue to work to improve health outcomes in our community.

21/05/2026

Want a dose of feel-good news in your inbox on a non-spam basis?

We send occasional updates to our Friends of Braemar on the work we do to address unmet need in the region, as well as relevant updates in the healthcare sector and stories of inspiration and hope from those we’ve helped.

Check out our latest newsletter here and hit subscribe at the bottom if you'd like it to come direct!

https://createsend.com/t/y-A8171BAE9B0483BB2540EF23F30FEDED

19/05/2026

As we get set to shortly announce our next cohort of nursing and health scholarship recipients at The University of Waikato, 2025 recipient Kayda Adams has some words of wisdom to share with the 2026 students.

From Te Kūiti, Kayda (Ngāti Maniapoto) worked in rest homes in Ōtorohanga and Hamilton before enrolling to study in a Bachelor of Nursing. She says the experience opened her eyes to the under-representation of Māori and Pasifika peoples in healthcare and she vowed to make an impact with her career.

Kayda was awarded the Braemar Charitable Trust nursing scholarship, worth $10,000, in 2025. Alongside the financial support, she was also able to complete a four-week placement at Braemar Hospital in theatre.

Having completed a district nursing placement in Te Kūiti, she says the opportunity to experience theatre nursing was invaluable. "It helped me grow in confidence, reflect on my learning and better understand the type of nurse I want to become."

She also volunteered with the Trust at Te Kūiti Hauora Day, and at the 2025 Community Surgery Day. The experiences gained from taking up these types of opportunities, she says, is the cherry on top of the scholarship itself.

"Overall, I am very thankful for the scholarship, the support I received, and the opportunity to experience theatre nursing. I encourage future recipients to stay positive, ask questions, build relationships and take charge of your own learning."

13/05/2026

Skin lesion removal is a significant unmet need in New Zealand, particularly among patients needing non-urgent removal, a minor surgical procedure that can result in lengthy public system wait times.

Thanks to funding from DV Bryant Trust and the Glenice and John Gallagher Foundation, Braemar Charitable Trust has enabled Waikato GPs to take up professional development with the very experienced Hamilton plastic surgeon Dr Winston McEwan.

Paeroa's Dr Loretta Radford, who took up the professional development opportunity last year, says it instilled confidence in her to apply these minor surgical skills in her own practice, which she says will help more patients in the process. She also volunteered to provide a half-day skin lesion checking clinic at the South Waikato Hauora Day in March, to great success!

It's an innovative approach that is helping address pressure on the public system for these patients with non-urgent lesions. By thinking outside the box, we're not only providing professional development for the medical workforce, but improving health outcomes in the process.

https://www.braemartrust.co.nz/blog/post/164537/gps-taking-their-new-skills-to-the-community/

11/05/2026

Today we celebrate the backbone of hospitals and clinics everywhere: a big happy to these stars of healthcare who work at the heart of patient care and wellbeing every day.

We are so grateful and privileged to work with many amazing nurses at Braemar Hospital who volunteer their time and expertise with our Community Surgery Programme, and alongside nurses who advocate and care for patients in our community, working closely with them as they navigate their health needs in a primary care setting. And, of course, not forgetting our founder Nursing Sister Frances Young, whose pioneering spirit set the standard of care still felt at Braemar today.

is celebrated on 12 May each year to mark Florence Nightingale's (credited as the founder of modern nursing) birthday and this year's theme is 'Our Nurses. Our Future. Empowered Nurses Save Lives,' a very important reminder as the sector continues to face challenges from workforce shortages and rising healthcare demands💪.

07/05/2026

We're five months into the year (have they flown past, or what?!) but we continue to make progress in our work to improve health outcomes, thanks to the ongoing skills and support of our wonderful specialists, clinicians and staff who continue to help us respond to the health needs of our communities.

This work is achieved primarily through our Community Surgery Programme which has seen a big increase in referrals and procedures in 2025/2026. The increase not only reflects a growing awareness of our service, but also the level of unmet need in our region - something we continue to work on addressing through innovative healthcare approaches.

Our Community Surgery Programme is where we work alongside surgeons and anaesthetists to provide free surgeries to eligible patients. This collaboration has enabled those who have been declined by the public health system, and don't have ACC cover, health insurance, or the financial means to pay privately.

In the 2025/2026 year we had a more than 30% increase in referrals to the programme and a more than 40% increase in number of surgeries and procedures undertaken.

We've also set down the date for our next Community Surgery Day - 29 August - where Braemar Hospital opens its doors on a Saturday to enable many patients to receive life-changing free surgeries in one day. We'll share more about this as we get closer to the date - for now we'll continue in our behind-the-scenes work to connect and collaborate with others to ensure this important work reaches those who need it most.

05/05/2026

Episode Two of our centenary film series looks at some significant milestones that have shaped Braemar Hospital into one of the leading private surgical hospitals in New Zealand - including the inception and role of Braemar Charitable Trust (that's us!) as its 100% owner. Check it out 👇

01/05/2026

Just a lovely thank you card we received from a Community Surgery Programme patient following dental surgery.

We love receiving these!

29/04/2026

We're proud to support our colleagues at Health NZ - Waikato who are leading an amazing new initiative to support refugee oral health in Hamilton.

Each year, we welcome around 130 people from Syria, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Myanmar, many of whom come from situations where dental care was inaccessible and upon arrival often face substantial financial hardship.

Alongside Tui Dental, with funding from our generous partners, we support several families - but we'd like to do more. So, we're seeking compassionate local dentists who may be willing to support a newly-arrived client on a low-cost or pro-bono basis. This contribution will profoundly impact their quality of life and ease their journey toward rebuilding a safe and health future in Aotearoa.

As always, we're very grateful for the support of Clare Foundation and HMS TRUST in this mahi. If you're interested in supporting this work too, let us know in our DMs 🦷 🪥

23/04/2026

In the past few months, we've been thinking more about how we can continue to use our resources to respond to the changing health needs of our communities. We're fortunate that we can be nimble and think differently about how we approach healthcare to help those who need it most, at scale.

That's why we are BEYOND excited to welcome Caity Fiske to our small (but mighty) team as our Community Surgery Programme Lead. Caity's role is to oversee our Community Surgery Programme, which enables free surgery and health interventions for eligible patients, and to work with our partners to explore clinical pathways to enable sustainable system change.

Caity is a very experienced nurse and joins us from her recent role as Clinical Nurse Specialist - Infection Prevention Control at Braemar Hospital, working to safeguard patient wellbeing, promote best practice, and lead sustainable system‑level improvements. Her career has spanned both public and private, in clinical and non-clinical nursing roles in Auckland and Hamilton.

Caity's approach focuses on uplifting others through education, thoughtful communication and system improvements that enhance patient safety and equity - the perfect fit, we think!

We are so excited to welcome Caity and to benefit from her clinical experience and knowledge to help improve community health outcomes on a bigger scale.

Address

Hamilton

Website

https://www.braemartrust.co.nz/

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