The Prince Charles Hospital Foundation

The Prince Charles Hospital Foundation is the charity aligned with the health and medical research community based at The Prince Charles Hospital.

Established in 1986, we are charged with the responsibility to inspire a generous community to fund lifesaving and life changing health research which is tackling Australia’s most significant chronic diseases.

Our aim is to provide more than $5M per annum to support the research teams that are focussed on the early detection, treatment and recovery from heart disease, lung disease, dementia and arthritis including improving hospital care, surgery, rehabilitation and the use of new technology.

While our home is located in Chermside (Brisbane, Australia) the chronic illness that we are helping to fight against threaten the lives of 80% of all Australians. These diseases know no boundary – and neither do we.

We are currently funding around 68,000 hours of research annually across 120 projects – but the need is far greater. The more hours we can fund, and the equipment we can provide, the faster health outcomes are achieved.

Almost all of us in our lifetime will be faced with the onset of chronic disease. Most of us have someone we love struggling with it today. Our desire is to do something about it. By detecting the disease early, by improving the treatment and by improving the recovery and rehabilitation we can live longer and healthier lives.

Public donations go to where they are most useful, thanks to our café.

The Prince Charles Hospital Foundation operates a commercial café and catering business at The Prince Charles Hospital. This business provides great quality and healthy food to the hospitals patients, visitors and staff, and all profits support the running costs of the charity. This means that we are able to put donations where they are intended, to find cures and save lives.

Why research matters

Right now, there are three million Queenslanders living with some form of chronic disease. That’s three quarters of the population living with constant pain or struggling to breathe.

Chronic disease is an underlying factor in 90% of deaths in Australia. One-third of deaths are caused by cardiovascular disease. It kills nearly 50,000 Australians each year. And while death rates are falling, the cost of treating heart disease is growing. It is the single biggest cost to the health system.

We’re all in this together. While many chronic disease problems are preventable through lifestyle changes, there is a significant portion of the community for whom prevention is not an option. These people need treatment. We need new surgical techniques to improve recovery, new drugs to target specific cancer cells, new ways to see inside our bodies and detect the tiniest hint of disease before it spreads, new ways to prevent infection.

We need research. We need you.

Priorities & Projects

Few people realise the low cost of research, or who pays and what actually happens. Research always seems to be never-ending – taking many, many years to achieve a ‘breakthrough’.

The Common Good is here to prove that everyday people can make things happen.   

$44 funds one hour of research.