Legacy grants awarded to four organisations

The trustees of the Point of Care Foundation have awarded four grants to distribute the organisation’s remaining funds.

After a short applications process open to the Foundation’s network of Associates, 11 bids were considered. Priority was given to applications that best met the following criteria:

• Alignment of the proposal with the Point of Care Foundation’s mission.
• Whether the proposal represents good value for the investment (likely impact/cost)
• Level of confidence in the team’s ability to deliver, judged against their previous experience.
• The perceived potential impact of what’s proposed on humanising healthcare.
• Level of confidence in the approach to evaluating the impact.
• Level of confidence in the governance/oversight arrangements proposed.

Grants awarded

University of Liverpool
£185,012.53

A proof of concept study looking at whether Schwartz Rounds can be useful in settings where paid and unpaid carers care for people living with dementia. The Point of Care Foundation has long wanted to extend Schwartz Rounds into social care and particularly the care of people living with dementia, now the commonest cause of death in women.

Developing the evidence base of the impact of Rounds in a range of care settings could help to make the case for the future investment and expansion of Rounds into an area where it  has historically been difficult to provide Rounds.

Picker and Kings College London
£86,592

A study to update the evidence behind Experience Based Co-Design (EBCD). This proposal will use the evidence to reimagine and update the EBCD toolkit, bringing it up to date with modern practice and research and making it more accessible and inclusive to users. The new toolkit will be integrated into learning and development programmes delivered by Picker through its networks across 25 countries and partnerships with regulators and ministries of health, and will feature on Kings’ postgraduate module on Co-production and Co-design.

Earlier this year, the Point of Care Foundation passed its Patient Experience programme, including the EBCD toolkit, to Picker. With longer term evaluation conducted by Kings College London, our hope is that this will continue to develop the evidence base and use of experience-based co-design.

National Voices
£25,000

To support work underway by National Voices who are developing a cohort of Lived Experience Partners from communities experiencing the greatest and most persistent inequalities in health and care. This initiative provides an exciting opportunity to support Lived Experience Partners to develop the confidence and skills to engage with health and care services, shape change and demonstrate the value of drawing on lived experience to improve care.

The Point of Care Foundation believes strongly in enhancing the voice and influence of patients within the provision of health and care services. This grant will enable the National Voices team to develop a sustainable model that can be scaled to enable truly diverse people with lived experience to contribute across the NHS in England, in areas including participation, quality improvement, transformation and change management, while maintaining high standards of support, impact and meaningful engagement.

Shine Cancer Support
£18,414

To support a new national programme pioneered by Shine Cancer Support to train 180 healthcare professionals in how to provide better care for young adults (20s, 30s and 40s) with cancer (Jan-Dec 2026). The funding will also train a further 40 HCPs to be Shine Champions of life-stage specific, high quality cancer care for patients in their 20s, 30s and 40s within their own workplace by March 2027. Twenty five champions will cascade the training to a further 600 HCPs by the end of March 2027.

The Point of Care Foundation believes that the experience and expertise of healthcare staff has a significant impact on the quality of care and experience of patients. This is an exciting opportunity to support the development of healthcare professionals who care for young adults with cancer. This work will draw on Shine’s experience of the gaps that young adults they support report from their experiences in health and care settings.