Midland hospitals are suffering from a drop in donations – with income plunging by up to £588,000 in a year.

Dudley Group of Hospitals Trust, which saw one of the biggest falls in income, has now created a post for a charity fundraiser.

The Dudley hospitals received £117,000 less than the £275,000 donated in 2007-08. The new fundraiser will start at the end of this month.

Dudley trust chief executive Paula Clark said: “The fundraiser will have lots of ideas which we will be able to turn into an action plan.

Falls in other crucial areas such as legacies means that the trust had £380,000 income in the year 2008-09, compared with the previous year’s total of £536,000.

Donations to the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust have also fallen dramatically compared with the previous two years.

Money from fundraisers has halved, although hospital bosses say income was artificially inflated between 2006 and 2008 because of cash for special projects.

Fundraisers gave £900,000 in 2006-07 and £1.1million during the following 12 months but cash gifts fell to £512,000 in the last financial year.

South Staffordshire Community Mental Health Charitable Fund, which covers South Staffordshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and South Staff-ordshire PCT, also suffered.

The fund saw income fall from £125,000 to £98,000 but has no plans to appoint a full-time fundraiser.

Figures for Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals Trust were not available but spokeswoman Jessamy Kinghorn admitted that the recession had affected charitable donations.

Donations to Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust also dropped over the year but money left in legacies rose by £11,000 meaning that the trust could report a £9,000 increase in total donations over the two financial years.

The only trust to report a significant increase in income was Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. Director of finance Mike Gill said money received from donations, legacies and investments rose from £392,000 in 2007-08 to £573,000 in 2008-09.

By Charlotte Cross