Small Grant Fund
As with our larger grant awards, our small grants are used to improve the physical and mental health of the people of Fife.
We've supported many projects in the past year in areas that may not normally attract funding. These are bespoke projects, wide in range and remit and all address a need or lack usually identified by staff members or public.
The small grants case studies here also help to illustrate just how funding can be used across different areas of the community to benefit a number of groups and causes.
In these studies, the beneficiaries can be broken down into six key areas. These will differ each quarter depending on the applications we receive and the projects which are eventually selected for an award.
Small Grants illustration of areas where funds were spent
Learning in labour
The childhood playground game of Hopscotch is the inspiration behind a new initiative designed to empower women and their birth partners during the labour and birth process from around 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Labour ‘Hopscotch’ designed by Irish midwife to mimic the childhood game, features a series of colourful stations resembling a hopscotch board, which are strategically placed throughout the maternity unit. The interactive stations are each labelled with instructions for women going through the stages of birth including exercises to help babies get into the best position for birth, birthing aids explainers and reminders to drink water and to make use of alternative therapies such as acupressure and aromatherapy.
As well as empowering mothers-to-be to have more control of and confidence in their birth experience, this programme is an example of how Fife Health Charity grants have supported NHS Fife colleagues to forge strategic links both nationally and internationally with a recent visit from a delegation from the maternity ward at Landspítali, Iceland's National University Hospital.
The charity grant funded training for maternity colleagues to deliver this programme as well as equipment costs. This project is a great example of work which delivers on the charity’s strategic priorities for supporting staff training and development to benefit patients and supporting children and young people.
www.nhsfife.org/labourhopscotch
Award amount: £7,877
Fresh look for rooms in our neonatal parent’s facility
Welcoming a new baby to the world should be a joyous time. However, for some parents this period is more complex, with some having to visit the hospital regularly, even staying overnight in some cases as NHS Fife medical teams provide their babies with the care that they need.
It was this situation that provided the background to the grant request from the neonatal team who felt that the current parent facilities were at best ‘tired’ and at worst, ‘clinical’ and ‘dated’ as described by parents who’d used them. The funds were used to upgrade both the sitting room and the sleeping room with new furniture, a mural, hot drinks making facilities and a few home comforts to create a home-away-from-home.
Award amount: £1,236
We have approximately 300 admissions per year and every set of parents will use the sitting room facility. They have all complimented on how tranquil the room is and how great it is having somewhere on the ward close to their baby to sit and take time out.
Thank you for setting up my TV.
The days can feel long when you don't have anything to do or anyone to talk to.
Simple addition of a television helps shorten the patient day
No-one enjoys being in hospital. The days can be quite long when you can’t leave your room especially if you are not receiving visitors. Ward 22 mainly consists of single occupancy rooms which may be great when trying to get to sleep at night, but which can prove isolating during long periods spent alone.
With the help of a Small Grant to provide and install televisions for patients, no one on Ward 22 need feel isolated any longer, the environment is instantly more relaxing and patients are once again connected to the outside world.
Award amount: £2,254
Quick training win speeds up waiting time for field of vision patients
An alternative way to test patients’ field of vision has recently been introduced in NHS Fife after a Small Grant paid for additional staff training and development in Ophthalmology. Representatives and consultants worked with members of the Ophthalmology team to implement this new testing process and help deliver better outcomes for patients within the service
Award amount: £1,260
