Organisation: The British Lung Foundation

Project Name: Integrating the BLF's Breathe Easy Voluntary Groups

Project Aims: The life force of the British Lung Foundation (BLF) is our wonderful volunteers who run our 250+ Breathe Easy support groups across the UK. Most of our volunteers have a lung condition themselves or they care for somebody with a respiratory illness. They work tirelessly at local level to support fellow respiratory patients and raise public awareness of lung health through events and information days. The Health & Social Care Volunteering Fund (HSCVF) grant will support 22 Breathe Easy groups to work in partnership with respiratory health professionals, general practitioners and commissioners in the new and emerging NHS organisations throughout the coming major changes in NHS structure. This collaborative working model between our volunteers and local NHS services was proven to be effective in developing patient-centred respiratory services during a pilot project in 2011. The HSCVF grant will enable us to build upon the success of the pilot and replicate the programme in 22 new communities across the Midlands and Eastern regions. 

Organisation: Rethink Mental Ilness

Project Name: Championing Co-production in Mental Health

Project Aims: Rethink Mental Illness, England’s largest mental health membership charity, believes that when commissioners work in partnership with those who use their services they will better understand local need and design services which better meet these needs.

This project will pilot ‘coproduction’ in the commissioning of mental health services in Chelsea and Kensington, Hammersmith and Fulham, Kingston Upon Thames, and Westminster. It will bring together young people who have experience of the care system; of inpatient services and of offending, and adults who have used community mental health services. These volunteer ‘champions’ will be trained to work across their communities to identify gaps in provision and develop a series of recommendations for improvements. In partnership with NHS and social care commissioners they will then work together to redesign and commission care pathways and then evaluate impact.
These will be the first projects to coproduce mental health services within the new NHS and social care framework, involving Health and Wellbeing Boards, Clinical Commissioning Groups and HealthWatch. If successful, we will work to replicate this model country-wide to ensure that those who currently struggle to have a voice in decision making, begin to play a part in making the decisions.
 

Organisation: Motor Neurone Disease Association

Project Name: Volunteers championing choice & control for people with MND

Project Aims: Motor Neurone Disease (MND) affects around 5,000 people a year; half die within 14 months of diagnosis. During this devastating illness, people typically require access to 18 different professionals.

As part of this project, volunteers will have a key role, working directly with people affected by MND, providing advice and support to help them navigate health and social care services; maintaining up to date information on services to signpost people effectively.
The project will create new ways of providing accessible information through an interactive, web-based portal, designed in consultation with people affected by MND.

Volunteers will help individuals understand and use personal budgets and exercise choice when accessing services. They will empower individuals to engage with health and social care organisations to ensure services are designed to meet their complex needs.
Volunteers will also support carers, promoting carers assessments to ensure they receive appropriate support from health and social care professionals so they can continue to care for as long as they feel able.

They will support the development of specialist training/education/information, to enable professionals to better support people with MND and carers. Professionals will be able to exchange and share their expertise and experiences through a new secure, confidential online forum.
 

Organisation: Endometriosis

Project Name: Endometriosis Patient Support Groups

Project Aims: Endometriosis is a common and often excruciatingly painful gynaecological condition, estimated to affect one in 10 women in the UK (c.1.5million). Lack of awareness and information leads symptomatic women to feel isolated and unaware of options available to manage this chronic condition. This impacts on many areas of a woman’s life including relationships and education/career development, with broader implications for healthcare costs; exacerbated by a lack of early diagnosis in young women (average 7 years delay).

We will develop a comprehensive support network for women in four locations in the south of England. We will achieve this by working with volunteers to create positive information pathways with community stakeholders. These include specialist centres, primary health care providers, educational establishments, sexual health clinics and sufferers of the condition. This project aims to develop dialogue between all stakeholders to ensure that women are effectively supported and educated to make informed decisions about their healthcare and life choices. Furthermore, it is anticipated that healthcare providers will be able to respond to the needs of women in their community more effectively.
Experience from this project will result in a model of good practice in volunteering and health promotion of endometriosis that can be replicated in other regions.
 

Organisation: Sign Health

Project Name: Deaf Health Champions

Project Aims: Deaf Health Champions is a ground breaking initiative to train and support Deaf sign-language volunteers across Merseyside, Cumbria and Manchester, who will work to improve the quality of Deaf patients’ experience of health and care services; and gain skills, knowledge and experience in the process.

Deaf British Sign Language (BSL) users are chronically excluded from health and social care decisions, and have poorer access to services than hearing people. Communication is often the biggest barrier to Deaf access; Deaf volunteers will be trained and supported by Deaf Volunteer Co-ordinators to give help and support to Deaf patients in their own language and culture.

Deaf volunteers will be trained in the latest technologies for remote interpreting, and they will promote these to Deaf patients and health professionals. Some will be given specialist support to represent the Deaf voice on HealthWatch committees and other bodies.

The project aims to make a lasting difference by training commissioners in Deaf awareness, providing robust evidence and information about the needs of Deaf local populations, and by working in partnership with new NHS structures to hardwire Deaf access into mainstream provision. It will also provide a model of good practice for replications in other areas. 

Organisation: Beat

Project Name: Beat Over-eaters Support Groups

Project Aims: Across the Midlands and East NHS Cluster Beat will establish Over-eater Support Groups in many locations.  The project will use trained volunteers, (including those with obesity or binge eating issues) carers, and health professionals, to create a network of self-help support groups. These will be run by the volunteers for people suffering from obesity (over-eating).

Members of the groups can be self-identifying and/or can be signposted by NHS staff. The groups will become completely self-sustaining after a short-period. They will act as a support to existing NHS obesity services. Their work will help some over-eaters to seek early intervention thus reducing long-term NHS costs.

The groups will promote a long-term healthy relationship with food in their users by tackling the emotional aspects of over-eating. This can enable life-long positive changes to their over-eating behaviour, in a supportive environment.  This work is modelled on the successful eating disorder support group methodology, already pioneered by Beat.
 

Organisation: Tyneside Mind

Project Name:Change Your Mind about Young People

Project Aims: GPs are often the first port of call for people experiencing a mental health problem; however, many GP practices are reported by young people to be ‘non-youth friendly’ which clearly highlights the need for a more holistic, youth informed model in GP practices.  Tyneside Mind believes that everyone deserves to have their mental health problems treated appropriately, whatever their age.  We also believe that the best people to facilitate this cultural shift with GPs are young people themselves. 
Change Your Mind about Youth is a collaborative project between Tyneside Mind, Changemakers and the Regional Youth Work Unit - North East.  We will recruit volunteers aged 16-25 years to be trained to work with GPs to improve how they treat mental health issues in young people.  These volunteers will then guide the GP practice through ‘You’re Welcome’ accreditation; the nationally recognised award for young people friendly health services.
This project will be delivered in the localities of Newcastle, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Northumberland.  Our aspiration is that the learning from this project can then be cascaded nationally, enabling young people throughout England to receive the mental health support that they need.
 

Organisation: Lifeline Project

Project Name: volunteerXchange

Project Aims: volunteerXchange is a community based project delivered by Lifeline Project Ltd in Bradford, Calderdale, Rotherham, Manchester and Preston. Volunteers and peer mentors from local communities will be trained to deliver interventions and support to people affected by alcohol, particularly those who would not typically engage in treatment or services such as; home drinkers, the elderly, people in full-time employment, women and those with disabilities.
volunteerXchange aims to reduce the stigma associated with accessing services for alcohol issues, increase access to relevant health care services and prevent further health problems. It will do this via a Volunteer Outreach and Peer Support Team. These teams will;

• Provide alcohol awareness/Identification & Brief Advice (IBA) satellite sessions at a range of community venues aimed primarily at increasing risk or higher risk drinkers who may be unaware of the risks they are exposed to and consequently ambivalent to change
• Provide robust and flexible pathways to existing health care services and mutual aid/self-help groups
• Provide peer support to those dependant drinkers who have disengaged or are at risk of disengaging
   

Organisation: Breast Cancer Care

Project Name: Best Foot Forward

Project Aims: Best Foot Forward is a unique programme of local walks for anyone moving forward from a diagnosis of breast cancer, enabling people of all abilities to get more active and feel better in a supportive and friendly environment. Breast Cancer Care is now actively recruiting volunteers with personal experience of breast cancer to lead these walking groups in four locations across the north of England. Evidence states that cancer recovery and recurrence are improved by increasing the level of activity undertaken; it also helps people cope with the side effects of treatment, manage fatigue, maintain a healthy weight and improve wellbeing. With the support of the Health and Social Care Volunteering Fund, we are looking forward to welcoming our first walkers in Barnsley, Calderdale, Manchester and Salford from January 2013.

Organisation: StreetGames

Project Name: Us Girls Motivators

Project Aims: 120 young women volunteers aged 16-25 (the Motivators) will set up and run thirty new Lifestyle and Wellbeing Clubs around the country.  Each Club will have its own programme of activities.  The physical activity sessions are likely to include dance, keep-fit, badminton, netball and zumba.  Alongside the sport, Motivators will arrange fun, inclusive, and informative activities, mixing social events with health improvement.  These sessions could include healthy cooking, weight management, hair and beauty, smoking cessation, safe drinking, sexual health, and social activities.

Whatever the Motivators feel is needed; we will help them make it happen by finding and using the assets that their local community already holds.  The Clubs will be self-managed and self-sustaining from the outset.  Not only do members want it that way, it is also the best way to keep the Clubs going.

At a strategic level, we will work with public health commissioners over the project lifetime, to ensure that the Clubs integrate with other health improvement services in the area.  We see the Clubs as part of a range of coordinated opportunities, designed to tackle inequalities in areas of high deprivation.

There will be two Clubs in each of fifteen locations: Liverpool, Manchester, Walsall, Wigan, Newcastle, Hastings, Birmingham, Chorley, Middlesborough, Nottingham, Stoke, Lincoln, Penwith, Hammersmith and Thanet.
 

Organisation: The Carers Resource

Project Name: Caring Communities Count

Project Aims:  To offer volunteer support to carers and those in need of care and support during challenging phases of their lives.
To develop community capacity to provide more ongoing local peer support by recruiting, training and supporting volunteers through the scheme.

What we aim to achieve
‘Caring Communities Count’ will offer support and encouragement to carers and those in need of care and support.  Working with and through volunteers it will:

• Offer practical and emotional support by telephone, in time limited targeted interventions one to one and through groups to socially isolated and vulnerable clients, including after hospitalisation;
• Reduce social isolation, anxiety and help prevent low level mental health issues developing;
• Improve the health, wellbeing and quality of life for clients using the services and volunteers delivering the services;
• Use existing skills and knowledge from well established schemes to mentor and share learning with centres new to providing such services
   

Organisation: Age UK South Staffordshire

Project Name: Eat Well Staffordshire - Live your life

Project Aims: Focussing on people aged over 65 living in community settings, Age UK South Staffordshire is co-ordinating a partnership project with the Carers Association of Southern Staffordshire; Community Council of Staffordshire, Staffordshire County Council and Staffordshire University. This innovative project will run over 3 years and expand incrementally across South Staffordshire, aiming to:

• Improve public awareness of malnutrition: Volunteers will be working directly with the public and other organisations to target those at highest risk.
• Improve volunteers’, social care assessors’, GPs’ and informal carers’ awareness of and ability to identify malnutrition: Age UK will co-ordinate a local training programme and the partnership will ensure that clear and coherent treatment pathways involving volunteers are agreed and implemented locally.
• Review existing volunteer capacity and existing local and national campaigns, projects and services that are currently impacting on malnutrition in the local community (either by design or by default): Current community interventions will be reviewed for their effectiveness to impact on community malnutrition.
• Establish the tools and mechanisms volunteers can use to implement changes that positively impact on key factors influencing community malnutrition: On-going project learning and evaluation will result in the production of volunteer and commissioner toolkits.
   

Organisation: Alzheimer's Society

Project Name: Connecting Communities in London

Project Summary: Connecting Communities is a 3 year volunteering pilot project; testing a new approach to improve dementia awareness through information and support for people living with dementia from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities in eight London boroughs.

Of the 8,000 people with dementia in the UK today, an estimated 15,000 are people from BME; 7,600 of who are living in London (Healthcare for London). The urgency to meet the needs of this population is already pressing and this figure is expected to double. This project will develop a new model for supporting people with dementia who are traditionally hard to reach by recruiting Community Engagement Volunteers. Due to different cultural perspectives on dementia and in some languages no words for the condition, there are barriers to reaching some communities. The project will develop tools to communicate appropriate messages within different cultural communities. Our volunteers will raise awareness of dementia and support people who have previously not accessed services and receive the support they need.

This project will empower service users to not only influence the development of services but influence how dementia services are commissioned in the future.