The Victoria Foundation’s history

2025 – The Victoria Foundation completed the sale of the New Victoria Hospital to Bupa which will enhance our charitable initiatives

The Victoria Foundation completed the sale of New Victoria Hospital to Bupa in summer 2025 which will enable TVF to enhance its charitable initiatives and provide support for a greater number of beneficiaries than before.

Mr Graham Ball,  TVF’s Founder and CEO, said, “New Victoria Hospital has a long history, and it has become such an important institution in Surrey. Joining forces with Bupa will secure a successful future for the Hospital to continue to lead in innovation, clinical excellence, and compassionate care.”

The Victoria Foundation will continue to focus on its core and valuable aims, providing medical equipment and accessible transport to children with disabilities and the elderly, as well as supporting the new generation of medical doctors from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

“We look forward to strengthening TVF’s solidarity projects and keep making a difference by transforming lives in the local and wider communities” continues Mr Ball.

2012 – The Victoria Foundation becomes the parent charity of New Victoria Hospital

In 2012 The Victoria Foundation bought the hospital back as one of its investments. The New Victoria Hospital was re-awarded its charitable status with The Victoria Foundation becoming the parent charity of the hospital.

2007 – The Victoria Foundation was born

On March 12th 2007, the sale of The New Victoria Hospital was completed and The Victoria Foundation was born. This then is the origin of The Victoria Foundation, the charitable aims of which, as one would expect given the origins of the Foundation, are broad but focused in the medical area. In 2011 the Irish property entrepreneur personally ran into financial difficulties although the hospital itself continued to trade profitably.

1958 – New Victoria Hospital opened - the start of Charitable work

Up until the 1940’s there had been a private Hospital named The Victoria Hospital based in Kingston – adjacent to what is now Kingston Hospital. On the creation of The National Health Service after the Second World War, and after a considerable battle, The Victoria Hospital was eventually subsumed into the NHS and became the gynaecology unit of Kingston Hospital.
In May of 1958, The New Victoria Hospital was opened by the Duchess of Sutherland. The creation of the hospital was a direct outcome of a dispute that had begun in 1953 between general practitioners in Kingston, who wanted a local hospital to treat their patients, and the South West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board, who had closed The Victoria hospital.
Over time the hospital grew and the range of services expanded and it became apparent that the only way these could be funded would be to charge a commercial rate for the beds and so gradually The New Victoria Hospital became the leading private hospital in the area with all the necessary hi-tech equipment that you would associate with a modern hospital.
However, in the early part of this century it became apparent that the hospital was in need of a radical and extensive upgrade. The statutory regulations that were to be introduced meant that there was an urgent need for new theatres and the resultant upheaval that this would cause meant that in order to do the job properly a significant rebuild was necessary. This would have cost many millions of pounds, and at the time, the Trustees were concerned that the level of risk that this would have meant was inappropriate for the Charity.
Fortuitously in 2006 the Trustees received an offer from an Irish property entrepreneur who had designs that involved not only the developing of the site for residential use but also to build a brand-new hospital.
After much agonising, the Trustees decided that this would, taking all the circumstances into account, be the best solution for all. The staff at The New Victoria Hospital were to be retained and thus the character of the hospital would be unchanged, a new hospital would ultimately be built that would benefit patients and with the Charity itself being in receipt of the proceeds of sale it would be able to increase the scope of its charitable activities.