Eligibility criteria

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Eligible organisations

Eligible organisations are based in the UK. They are:

• Independent adult hospices

• Children’s hospices

• Sue Ryder Care hospices

• Marie Curie Cancer Care

• NHS hospices.

The lead applicant

The project lead must be:

• a qualified nurse
• working in an eligible hospice setting (see above)
• undertaking a piece of work which:
  • clearly offers opportunities to build their leadership abilities
  • increases access to hospice care for people for whom access has previously been limited.

Therefore, it is expected that the nurse will not only be the lead applicant but will have an active role in defining, shaping, managing and reviewing the progress of this project.

The proposed work

We are looking to support applicants who are undertaking projects with the ultimate aim of improving services for individuals and/or groups in society whose needs are not meet by the services which the hospice/unit offers. This may be so because of:

• their diagnosis

• their care setting

• their social circumstances

• how hospices are perceived by some parts of the community they serve.

In this final grant round we are particularly interested in receiving applications that reach out to socially excluded groups, such as people with mental health issues.

Please read the accompanying information which explains in more detail what we mean by widening access.

Any proposed developments must have a direct impact on the care offered to the targeted beneficiaries.

You are expected to provide robust evidence that there is a need for the project and that it is an original initiative in the area that you serve.

Partnership working

We expect the proposed work to be developed and implemented in partnership with others, for example internal colleagues/departments or other organisations. We ask for signed letters of support from any organisations that you propose to work with.

The application must clearly demonstrate how the targeted beneficiaries are meaningfully involved in the development and implementation of the proposed work.

Organisational support

The grants are designed to help people develop their leadership skills. The lead applicant could need time out from practice to undertake the proposed work and full support from the organisation to execute necessary change to practice.

Therefore the chief executive, clinical director or equivalent of the hospice is asked to write and sign a statement of support on hospice headed paper addressing the five points outlined in section seven of the grant application form.

Supporting documentation for your application

Examples of supporting documentation which you may want to submit could include:

• the outcomes of any work undertaken to map the local population or which highlights the issue which the project aims to address

• the outcomes of any consultations or needs analysis undertaken to determine which developments would be most appropriate to address the challenges of making access more equitable for the targeted beneficiaries

• local census information pertaining to under-represented groups such as travellers or people from black minority ethnic (BME) groups

• research published within the last five years which demonstrates the need for specific approaches to the palliative care of under-represented groups

• a literature review which provides a sound foundation to the project.  
  

Each application is judged on its own merits so do not assume that the committee will have seen anything submitted previously. This is particularly relevant to major grant application that may be building on work undertaken through a previous seedcorn grant application.

Eligible costs

For the purpose of this grant programme we consider a ‘project’ to be a discrete range of activities with a clear purpose, designed to bring about change. These activities would normally incur costs over a variety of items which could include: 

• backfill to allow the applicant time to develop and lead the project 
• training and development which is clearly related to leadership development and/or achieving  the outcomes of the project. Up to a maximum of:
  • £1,000 for relevant courses/conferences
  • £500 towards conferences to disseminate work
• costs associated with supporting the involvement of service users
• supervision or mentoring costs
• equipment (up to a maximum of £500 for IT equipment)
• networking opportunities.

It is expected that the majority of the grant would go towards backfill for the lead applicant. However a range of different items should be budgeted for and all must be relevant to the project.

What is not eligible?

Applications for:

• activities such as undertaking a needs analysis or mapping exercises only

• a continuation of an existing service

• work that has already started before 1 March 2012, although if running a pilot phase before this date, it does not preclude you from making an application to develop it further

• isolated pieces of equipment not related to the proposed work

• direct salary costs for tasks not related to the project - the aim is to release the applicant from some of their duties in order to undertake the proposed work.

Next steps

If your proposed work fits the eligibility criteria above, then we encourage you to look at the criteria that your application will be assessed against, which will help you to complete a stronger application.