The SWL Bereavement Community Engagement Gaps Grants

South West London Bereavement Services and Support: Community Engagement Gaps Grants

(Addressing gaps in bereavement services and support)

Introduction

About Phase 1 - 2022 Bereavement Pilot Project in Kingston

NHS South West London commissioned Healthwatch Kingston and Kingston Voluntary Action to undertake a SWL community engagement pilot project in Kingston about people’s experience of bereavement services and support, with a focus on the needs of minoritised communities. This Kingston focused bereavement community engagement pilot culminated in a report with recommendations which supported South West London’s programme aim to: ‘Improve awareness of, access to and quality of bereavement services and support for underserved communities’.

About Phase 2 - the rollout of community engagement across SWL to address the gaps identified in Phase 1

NHS South West London has recently agreed to a proposal to engage with groups not yet engaged with (see ‘About the grant’), to grow learning from more communities across SWL.

Healthwatch Kingston and Kingston Voluntary Action have been asked to lead coordination of the engagement work across SWL.

The pilot in Kingston adopted a community engagement approach which explored the lived experience of those accessing services/support, what mattered most when grieving and the intersection with culture, language barriers, faith, beliefs and life philosophies. Phase 2 will continue this methodology so that the Phase 2 report can become an appendix to the Phase 1 report.

As phase 1 of this SWL work was piloted in Kingston, we will be actively encouraging organisations from the other five boroughs to submit for Phase 2 grants, but will also be open to applications from Kingston organisations that did not receive a grant to contribute in Phase 1.

About the Grants

The SWL Bereavement Community Engagement Gap Grants will be awarded to successful community organisations that apply to run face-to-face focus groups within their chosen community. We aim to award 13 gaps grants (from Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise organisations or groups, local Healthwatch and local schools and colleges) that work with any of the beneficiaries who live, work or study in Croydon, Kingston*, Merton, Richmond, Sutton or Wandsworth and are (in no particular order):

1. Children, young people and their families/friends/teachers
2. Survivors of bereavement by suicide
3. People experiencing homelessness
4. People experiencing funeral poverty
5. People with learning disabilities, special educational needs and disabilities and neurodivergent people (such as autism and ADHD)
6. Domiciliary (home care), care and nursing home workforce
7. Hospice and other palliative care focused teams
8. Residents in care and nursing homes
9. Recently widowed
10. Veterans and their families/friends
11. People from the Afro-Caribbean community
12. Refugees, asylum seekers and people from other migrant communities
13. People from LGBTQ+ communities 
14. People living with frailty and/or dementia
15. People experiencing loss through pregnancy and/or fertility

*organisations from Kingston can only apply if they did not receive a grant during the Pilot programme.

About the focus groups:

You will run 1 or more focus groups with 8-10 participants who have experienced (or have supported someone who has experienced) bereavement. Each focus group will last between 60-90 minutes. The groups will be facilitated by someone from your organisation and will follow the questions from a provided template (draft focus group instructions). As part of the process, you will be asked to report your focus group notes into a template (again, we will provide you with this) and submit these within 3-5 working days after your engagement. You will also promote and encourage completion of the Healthwatch Kingston bereavement gaps survey which will be running at the same time (The link will be published on Healthwatch Kingston website).

How much can you apply for:

Grants of up to £1,000 will be awarded.

What is the funding for

We will fund reasonable expenses incurred through a focus groups such as: venue, refreshments, volunteer and participants expenses (including childcare), promotion costs, administration (including writing up of your focus group notes) etc.

Deadline for submission of applications:

Midnight on Sunday, 10 November 2024

Notification of successful applications and grant awards:

by 5pm on Friday 29 November 2024

Your community focus group(s) completed and your engagement notes submitted:

by midnight on Monday 6 January 2025.