Cotswold Hospital Radio

Cotswold Hospital Radio makes programmes for patients at Cheltenham General Hospital and Gloucestershire Royal Hospital. The service began as Cheltenham Hospital Radio in 1974 and adopted its wider Cotswold name in 1976. Its registered base remains at Cheltenham General, while the two hospitals provide distinct local audiences for the same charitable broadcaster.

Patients Postbag is a central request programme, welcoming choices that can include poetry, literature and theatre as well as music. This breadth is part of the station's patient-led approach. Volunteers discuss listening preferences on the wards, help explain the radio service and check that patients' equipment is working, linking personal visits with what is subsequently heard on air.

The wider service introduced in 1976 also reached St Paul's Maternity and Gloucester Maternity hospitals, an important stage in the move beyond its original Cheltenham audience. Today the charity operates through a management committee under its constitution and belongs to the Hospital Broadcasting Association. There are no paid staff, and the broadcaster reports no regular NHS or other government income. Fundraising events and individual supporters therefore pay for the work that keeps its patient-focused programmes available.

The station broadcasts throughout the day and night and offers selected programmes to hear again. Its management and programme-making are carried out by volunteers, with fundraising and supporters helping to meet running costs. That structure gives its Gloucestershire hospital audience an enduring service in which requested material and direct contact with patients take priority.