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Welcome to Friends of Bristol Eye Hospital
Treatment for all patients has been greatly enhanced by our supporters.
For every £1 raised, we spend 95p supporting the hospital, 2p running the charity and 3p on publicity or raising funds.
Make a donation
You can donate in many ways, including cash, cheques, BACS, debit or credit card.
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grants made
To contact us, we recommend that you telephone or email (details in Contact). We all work from home and post sent via the hospital can be delayed. If you need to post anything, please call or email and we will give you a home address. Thank you.
Enhancement to the oculoplastic service at BEH
The Friends are delighted to have been able to support a significant enhancement to the surgical capabilities of the Bristol Eye Hospital’s oculoplastic surgery service by providing a new Stryker saw and drill system.
This equipment enables surgeons to carry out exceptionally precise and controlled bone work around the orbit and facial structures, which is vital when treating patients requiring orbital decompression surgery for thyroid eye disease.
Terri Agnew, the Deputy Divisional Director for the hospital said, “We are deeply grateful to the Friends of Bristol Eye Hospital for making this possible.”
10 November 2026
Christmas cards on sale in BEH
Designs available can be seen at the booking-in desk on the ground floor – or click here. Each pack costs £4. Packs contain ten cards of the same design plus envelopes. The cards are made from materials from well-managed FSC-certified forests, recycled materials and other controlled sources.
Sales are open between 8am and 5pm. Ideally, please pay by cash – but staff will not be able to give you any change (and we receive the excess as a donation). You can also pay by credit or debit card, although there may be a delay while the payment machine is fetched from its usual place elsewhere! We apologise for this inconvenience.
10 November 2026
Renewed thanks to Clifton Specsavers
Many thanks to Specsavers in the Clifton Down Shopping Centre, who allow us to keep a collecting box in their reception area so their customers can contribute to the Friends. As a result a further £102 has now been raised.
Specsavers in Clifton have been very supportive of the Friends of Bristol Eye Hospital for some years, with staff last year organising a sponsored walk from Clifton Down to their branch in Bath.
21 October 2026
Christmas cards on sale in Nailsea
If you live in North Somerset then you may be interested that Carole Brooke, the Friends’ secretary, and several other trustees and volunteers will be manning a stall selling our Christmas cards at the next Nailsea Farmers Market, which will be held on Saturday morning, 21st November 2026.
The popular market, which always attracts large numbers of people, is held in Nailsea’s High Street.
The attractive cards are in packs of ten, priced at £4, with all profits going to Friends of Bristol Eye Hospital.
18 October 2026
The photo shows Olivia, young daughter of Claire Ellis, one of our trustees, on sales duty at Nailsea Farmers Market in October 2026
iPads for hospital’s teen zone
Thanks to the Friends, two iPads have been purchased for young people to use whilst waiting for appointments in BEH’s paediatric department. The devices are particularly helpful for patients with learning difficulties or complex needs and enable them to feel calmer. They have been specially adapted so that they can also be used by patients with poor vision.
Emma Sudol, the Senior Staff Nurse in the Paediatric Department who had applied to the Friends for their help in making the purchase, said: “While all patients with serious eye problems who are waiting in the hospital for their appointments or results can feel nervous, this is particularly the case for teenagers and children, so these iPads have been extremely beneficial.”
The cost to the Friends was £1,279.
18 October 2026
A new way to support the Friends
The Friends are delighted to announce that we have signed up to a new charity support organisation called ‘easyfundraising’.
The service is used by hundreds of charities across the UK, so far raising in excess of £70 million.
It is free for both the public and charities to use and if you’d like to help support the Friends of Bristol Eye Hospital when you shop online, then all you’d need to do is to simply sign up via the easyfundraising website and app.
11 June 2026
The 2026 edition of In Sight is out now
The Friends’ annual newsletter is packed with stories about our fundraising activities, the grants we’ve made to Bristol Eye Hospital, how patients have been helped – and info about how you can help us.
You can pick up a copy of In Sight 2026 in the hospital, or click the button below to read it online. Members of the Friends will receive a copy in the post.
22 April 2026
“In gratitude for the first-class treatment”
We have had a number of recent donations that have ranged from £100 to several thousand pounds from patients wanting to say thank you for the care they have received in the eye hospital.
A recent letter, typical of many that we receive, which was accompanied by a donation of £100, explained that the donation was “in gratitude for the first-class treatment received from the eye hospital’s staff.”
It is so lovely for the charity to receive these letters and the donations that often accompany them.
The Friends also take great delight in passing on the lovely ‘thank you’ comments to the hospital’s staff.
30 January 2026
Farewell to eye consultant Richard Haynes after 25 years
Richard Haynes came to Bristol Eye Hospital in 2001 as a consultant specialising in vitreo-retinal surgery.
In almost 25 years he has carried out a very large number of successful operations, trained a whole generation of vitreo-retinal fellows and published upward of 50 scientific papers.
He is now moving to Truro, partly for family reasons and to augment the retinal surgery service provided by one of his previous fellows.
His calm and methodical approach in the clinics has been greatly appreciated by his many patients.
We wish him very well. Bristol’s loss is Truro’s gain!
29 January 2026
Over £1.9 million given in grants to BEH
The Friends were formed in 1977 with the aim of providing support for Bristol Eye Hospital in two main areas – amenities for the patients and staff, and medical equipment that was beyond the purse of the NHS.
By 2010, 33 years after our foundation, we’d been able to give a million pounds in grants, thanks to the many generous bequests and other donations we’d received, as well as the success of our fundraising events and the sale of Christmas cards. Just 16 years later, we’re approaching the two-million mark.
7 January 2026
From our archives
Guests at our 40th anniversary dinner in 2017 – an event that celebrated our past achievements and raised more money for future grants.
We’re already working on plans for our 50th anniversary celebrations in 2027!
