Funding for projects which offer an innovative effective way to support older people with frailty.
Adult hospices which are a member of Hospice UK can now apply for grants to deliver projects that demonstrate and share effective and innovative ways of caring for, and working with, older people with frailty.
A total of £500,000 is available, with 10 to 15 grants of up to £50,000 to be awarded.
Projects could involve the following activities:
- Identification and management of frailty for patients who have palliative care needs and/or are approaching end of life regardless of whether the level of complexity is low or high, or whether the person has cognitive and physical frailty.
- New models of working, such as establishment of virtual wards or information sharing strategies so that patient data flows between involved parties such as hospices, hospitals, family and community groups.
- Education: upskilling of staff to support caring for people with frailty such as training hospice and domiciliary/residential care staff around difficult conversations and the management of slow decline in the context of frailty.
- Working in partnership across health care settings to support people, both before and after a crisis, to avoid unwarranted hospital admission or other place changes due to an underlying, unaddressed palliative care concern.
- Mitigating risk by working in partnership with patient and service users, for example by considering in advance interventions such as de-prescribing and/or environmental factors such as those related to falls.
- Support for people with advancing frailty who are reluctant to engage with palliative care.
It is expected that most of the grant would go towards implementation costs of the service. However, a range of different items should be budgeted for, and all must be directly relevant to the project.
The deadline to apply is 5pm on 5 December 2022.
How To Apply
The deadline to apply is 5 December 2022 at 5pm. Decsions are expected by the end of January 2023.
Full guidelines and an online application form can be found on the Hospice UK website.