Did you know... More than 100,000 people volunteer in hospices across the UK

Carers' grants

Help the Hospices' four-year Care for the Carers of the Terminally Ill project started in January 2005. The project is funded by the Tubney Charitable Trust and money raised via the 2005 Flora London Marathon.

Many of the projects funded via the Care for the Carers of the Terminally Ill projects presented posters at the Time to Care conference in November 2008. You can view the carers poster presentations.

Major Grants

The Major Grants programme has funded innovative projects that make a tangible difference to people who provide unpaid care for terminally ill friends or family. The final round of this grant programme was held in November 2007, and these projects were awarded a grant:

Farleigh Hospice's 'Care 4 U' carers project
Harlington Hospice Association's Carers Together teleconferencing project
The Heart of Kent Hospice's Support for Male Carers
Springhill Hospice's Carers Advocacy Project
West Cumbria Hospice at Home's Living for Today project.

You can read about the:

2007 Major Grants projects
2006 Major Grants projects
2005 Major Grants projects.

Evaluation

We commissioned Lancaster University to evaluate the projects funded by the Major Grants programme. The research team is led by Professor Sheila Payne.

The team gave its initial findings at two conferences:

Palliative Care Congress in Glasgow on 29 April to 1 May 2008
Research Forum of the European Association for Palliative Care in Norway on 29 to 31 May 2008.

There was a presentation about the research findings at the Time to Care conference on 26 November 2008.

Seedcorn grants

The Seedcorn grants programme aimed to kickstart or pilot new initiatives that support carers of the terminally ill. Four Seedcorn grants were awarded in June 2007 and eight in June 2006.