• Pat Linck, Bronwyn Tunnage, Dyfrig A Hughes, and Rhiannon Tudor Edwards.
• Centre for Economics and Policy in Health, Bangor University, Bangor, Wales, UK. p.linck@bangor.ac.uk
• J Child Health Care. 2008 Jun 1;12(2):156-68.

AbstractIn 2005 the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Guidance on Cancer Services: Improving Outcomes in Children and Young People with Cancer, identified the need to quantify the substantial contribution made by charities to NHS provision to this group of patients. This article quantifies the contribution in England and Wales. It identifies 51 charities established specifically to assist this patient group, estimates that 340 charities made some financial contribution and 28 organizations administered charitable funds for hospices. The financial contribution to services by charities was estimated to be between pound25 million and pound38 million in 2003, representing between one-third and a half of the total resources directed to the treatment and support of children and young people with cancer in specialist centres across England and Wales. Reliance on the substantial charitable funding of health care in England and Wales raises concerns over government responsibility, and the potential misalignment between NHS priorities and those of the charities.

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