The Dr Edwin Doubleday Fund

The Fund's purpose is to encourage a positive relationship between patients and the medical profession. Started in memory of Edwin Doubleday by members of his family, the focus of the Fund's effort is medical education.

Our means of making a positive contribution is to make an annual award to an individual of standing who has made a significant contribution to the area of medical practice in which we are interested.  We give bursaries and grants to medical students and support the developments which inform curricular change.

Rabbi Julia Neuberger was the first recipient of the Doubleday/Manchester Award in January 2002 at Manchester University. She delivered a lively and thought provoking public lecture on "Doctors, patients, consent and understanding - is there a new compact out there?"  Her contribution sets the pattern for subsequent recipients.

The Award ceremony is normally held in the October of each year, and announcements are made on this website.

We like to make our fundraising a bit quirky and unexpected. Our events have ranged form a concert of romantic Afghan music to a team of four women running to Paris – a distance of 137 miles in an outstanding 61 hours. See the photos here.

The Fund provides support for people entering the medical profession by encouraging interest in the non-technical elements of medical practice that present some of the greatest challenges to individuals at the start of their careers. These elements include the disparity between politically desirable aspects of a public health service and what it is practicable to deliver, the maintenance of humanitarian values in increasingly ethically complex aspects of medical innovation and the differences in attitude to illness and treatment between religious and cultural groups.

The Fund has selected medical education as the specific area where constructive support can make a significant contribution. We provide funding for projects, including curriculum development which serves to broaden the experience of medical training.

A substantial fraction of the new doctors who qualify in the United Kingdom have the benefit of some broadening of the programme during undergraduate training. The questions that are being addressed are of current concern. It is certain that many medical issues do not have easy answers and that the consequence of an increasingly technological practice is the danger of the patient becoming isolated at a time when individual human needs and vulnerability are at their greatest. The ultimate object of this project is to strengthen the relationship between the patient and the medical profession.

The Fund is administered by a board of trustees, in accordance with its constitution which is registered with the Charity Commission (No. 1086856).