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Before 1948 the King's Fund made annual grants to most of the voluntary hospitals within the Metropolitan Police District. As a condition of receiving a grant each hospital was visited every year by visitors from the King's Fund who reported on the running of the hospital. The introduction of the National Health Service in 1948 of necessity brought about a complete change to this system.
The King's Fund continued to visit and to give grants to disclaimed hospitals which remained outside the NHS. It also assisted other small voluntary institutions many of which cared for the aged or disabled. The Fund decided to give periodic grants to NHS hospitals, particularly hospitals with little free money, to assist them with projects for which little or no official funding was available. These included improvement of hospital kitchens, creation of gardens, the provision of recreational facilities for staff and patients, the installation of hospital radio and the purchase of new mattresses. King's Fund Visitors continued to make occasional visits and reports on hospitals either at the request of hospital or in connection with an application for a grant. All types of hospitals were visited and assisted - teaching hospitals, metropolitan regional hospital board hospitals and mental hospitals, - including both the former voluntary and the former local authority hospitals.