Jill Fraser

Jill Fraser is Chief Executive and Co-founder of Kissing it Better, a healthcare charity and training provider, working to end the isolation of old age by bringing the generations together.

Jill trained at the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. During her training, she was awarded a scholarship by The Kings Fund to work in America. As a result of the many interviews she gave while she was there, she developed an interest in journalism as a way of spreading simple health messages. For the next 30 years, as a reporter/presenter, she presented features for many programmes on television and radio including Woman’s Hour, Newsround and BBC Breakfast.

Passionately believing that everyone has a special talent, Kissing it Better aims to seek out that skill in every student who works with the charity and encourages them to share it, sensitively, with those who, for a variety of reasons, feel the wider world may have forgotten them. Based on that concept, the charity runs a range of teaching programmes for young people in schools, colleges and universities as well as for NHS staff (medical and non-medical). They also offer workshops for primary school children to help them understand what it can mean to be old. Once the young people have completed the course, they are offered volunteering experience in hospitals and care homes.

The charity is an Approved Activity Provider for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards (Volunteering and Skills). As a result, they now work with young people across the world.

Jill regularly speaks at conferences, writes articles for national newspapers and magazines, and is also a regular contributor to several BBC radio shows, including PM, You and Yours on BBC Radio 4 and The Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio 2. She has delivered over 400 talks in this country and in Europe. Venues have included Buckingham Palace, 10 Downing Street and The House of Lords.

Kissing it Better has won several national awards and a Queen’s Award (QAVS) for its work.

Since 2019, Jill has been a Deputy Lieutenant of Warwickshire.