Medics’ union faces £40,000 funding cut

Imperial College School of Medicine Students’ Union (ICSMSU) is facing a £40,000 cut to its funding, as Imperial College Healthcare Charity withdraws its support over the next 5 years, with a 20% reduction each year. This will be especially detrimental to the electives fund and ICSM Gazette. ICSMSU President, David Smith, is confident that the Union will acquire self-sufficiency with more alumni support in the next five to six years. According to the only candidate running for ICSMSU President 2011-12, Suzanne Rayner, “we’re looking to our faculty and they seem supportive, and there are other areas that contribute like St Mary’s Association and St Mary’s trustees”.

The changes come following the formation of Imperial College Healthcare Charity in April 2009 from the merger of the Charitable Fund for Charing Cross, Hammersmith and Queen Charlotte’s Hospitals (who previously provided funding for ICSMSU) and St Mary’s Paddington Charitable Trust. The charity has become increasingly oriented towards supporting the patients and staff of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. In other words, they are prioritising patient care. ICSMSU intends to appeal against the decision, fearing that the reduced funding will not be enough to sustain vital aspects of the union.

ICSMSU has traditionally received £40,000 a year from the Hammersmith Charitable Trust. This was received for 2009-10 immediately following the charity’s transformation but the union was warned that this wouldn’t last. ICSMSU have been awarded £40,000 for 2010-11 and grants for the next four financial years decreasing by 20% each year.

Allocation of the £40,000 is £8,000 for equipment purchase, £4,000 for ICSM Gazette (which produces 3 issues per year), £10,000 for elective awards, and £18,000 towards the ICSMSU President’s (£24,000) salary.

Electives, during which final year students embark on medical placements abroad, can often be a financial challenge and this hardship fund is a highly sought after resource. If the cuts do go ahead, it is likely that ICSM Gazette’s funding will be completely cut.

The hope in the long-term is to move towards acquiring funding from the ICSM Alumni Association. Of course, encouraging donations from alumni is a challenge, but support appears to have been building year on year. Suzanne Rayner believes that in order to maintain the provision of funds, people need to be persuaded of the importance of the union’s role.

The use of charitable funds in healthcare is a well-established tradition; most of the hospitals within Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust were founded by independent charities as voluntary hospitals pre-20th century. The idea behind these hospitals was to provide for sick working-class citizens, the “deserving poor”. Despite the shift to government funding for health, with the establishment of the NHS in 1948, hospital charities have persisted; Imperial College Healthcare Charity is a descendent of the charities which founded the hospitals constituting the Trust.

Read an interview with Suzie Rayner