Innovation and Improvement in Health and Care Fund in the UK

Deadline: 28-Feb-23

The Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust is currently seeking applications for its Innovation and Improvement in Health and Care Fund.

Support

• Applications may address care for any area of physical or mental health or disability, but the Trust will prioritise projects which support:
  • the development of new models of health and care (to improve outcomes for people living with serious long-term or life-limiting conditions, enhance access to services or improve their resilience)
  • the integration of health and care services
  • areas of unmet need.

What the Trust will Fund?

• Applicants will need to provide evidence that the project will lead to innovation or improvement in health and care practice with direct benefit for the charity’s beneficiaries. Applicants will also need to explain how these outcomes will be scalable/replicable by other organisations.
• This evidence of innovation and improvement might be from a pilot study, from practice in a specific setting that the applicant is now looking to roll-out more widely, or from practice in other countries that has not previously been applied in theUK. The Trust is not prescriptive about the size of previous pilots, but the evidence must be sufficient to demonstrate positive, real-world outcomes.
• The Trust adopts a broad approach to funding and will consider applications to support:
  • infrastructure funding for specific facilities or equipment, where these are necessary to support innovation or improvement in practice
  • funding for start-up costs (including staff or consumables costs) necessary to roll-out or scale-up new, improved practice. Any such funding agreed by the Trustees will be for a fixed period of up to 2 years and the Trust will not provide ongoing funding once new models are in place. The applicant will therefore need to demonstrate how the new model will be sustained once the project supported by the Trust has been completed.
• It is likely that 2-3 awards will be made each year, depending on the availability of resources and the scale of selected projects.

Fund will not support

• The fund will not support:
  • research projects or early-stage work to assess proof of concept
  • research into the causes and treatment of illnesses
  • the routine replacement of equipment or the routine refurbishment of facilities
  • small scale activity to make incremental improvements in practice in a single setting; however worthwhile these may be
  • contributions to large capital campaigns for “bricks and mortar” projects unless they relate to specific facilities or services that directly address the priorities for this fund.

Eligibility Criteria

• The programme is open to registered and exempt charities in the UK and to NHS organisations. Applications will also be accepted from UK universities which work in partnership with charities or the NHS to support innovation and improvements in health and care.
• Given the focus of the programme, projects may involve a number of partners. The lead organisation responsible for delivery of the project, and to which any funding would be awarded, should be an established centre of excellence or have the potential to become a leader in its field.
• Applications will need to demonstrate:
  • the organisation’s track record in developing new models of health and care and/or providing high quality care for its beneficiaries
  • how the application relates to the organisation’s wider strategy
  • the organisation’s commitment both to sustain and disseminate the work funded by the Trust.
• The Trust will not consider applications from organisations that have received an award of capital funding from the Trust within the previous two years.

For more information, visit Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust.