What we do - the objective of the charity is to make grants (full or part dependent on financial circumstances) to residents of Folkestone and Hythe for medical treatment. Grants are made to help them receive rapid private healthcare if in the opinion of their GP or consultant, they are suffering loss of quality of life due to delays in their treatment on the NHS. Background to St Saviour's Medical Charity - Well over 150 years ago, a group of eminent men and women, including Mr. Gladstone, established the first Church of England religious community for women to be formed for 300 years. They were named The Sisters of Mercy. In 1854 Florence Nightingale recruited the Sisters and a party of them went to the Crimea to nurse the wounded. After the war they founded the first St. Saviour's Hospital, in Euston, treating cancer patients. At the turn of the century The Sisters converted it to a general hospital for ladies of limited means and called in a committee of local businessmen to manage the finances. Later it opened its doors to a wider range of patients and started to take private paying patients. It continued operating through the First and Second World Wars. After the Second World War the London inner ring road was built through the site of the hospital and the Nuns moved to Hythe in 1963. Hythe people replaced the London businessmen as Trustees. Over the years to 1989 the Committee enlarged and modernised the hospital. The remaining Nuns however grew too old to continue and lay professional medical staff were employed to continue the work. The hospital remained a charity though the majority of its patients were private. Any profit made was used to help those who could not afford to pay for treatment. The hospital was profitable but not overly so few charity patients could be helped. In 1989 the Trustees sold the hospital and formed St. Saviour's Medical Charity, investing the proceeds of the sale, which now permit more charitable grants to be made.