Health and social care

Health and social care

Health and social care

Introduction

Our Covid-19 Action Fund provided grants for Churchill Fellows to run projects combating the effects of Covid-19 in all areas of society. Hundreds of pandemic projects nationwide are being run or assisted by Churchill Fellows, using the international expertise they gained during their Fellowships overseas. Here are the Action Fund recipients working on health and social care issues.

January 2022 awards

Lisa Baum

Lisa Baum: providing holistic care to ‘Long Covid’ patients

Lisa Baum (CF 2011) from London is a psychotherapist and is working to support sufferers of ‘Long Covid’. NHS clinics are reportedly overwhelmed with cases, leaving many people feeling isolated with their symptoms.

Lisa will use her grant to provide a free12-week holistic support programme for ‘Long Covid’ sufferers in Peckham and Southwark, where cases are particularly high. This will include aromatherapy yoga, Shiatsu and acupuncture sessions, which are both proven to decrease inflammation and improve the regulation of the nervous system. Participants will also be invited to attend facilitated support sessions that will provide methods of managing ‘Long Covid’. These sessions will also be a safe space for participants to discuss their concerns with others who are suffering from the condition, with the aim of reducing feelings of isolation. Lisa also plans to offer one-to-one counselling to participants, so that they can process the impact that the condition has had on their mental health and learn wellbeing tools that will help them to cope with their symptoms.

Lisa’s Fellowship to Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway explored ways of inspiring pupils to explore by cycling.

Raman Kaur

Raman Kaur: improving speech and language therapy services

Raman Kaur (CF 2014) is a speech and language therapist and Divisional Allied Health Professional (AHP) lead at Birmingham Community Health Care Trust. During the pandemic, she has been leading the service to support speech and language staff to deliver sessions to children and families virtually.

Raman will use her grant to support AHP students to deliver these sessions as part of a hybrid approach, which will include both online and in-person support. As part of this support, Raman will develop a training package for speech and language students. This will include best practice for virtual consultations, a mentorship package and training that will be co-produced with children and families to ensure that it reflects their needs. Raman will then deliver this training to a cohort of 20 students during their eight week clinical placement training. Raman will also set up a focus group to monitor the impact of the training and mentorship package, and will use these insights to develop a set of recommendations for the AHP Faculty at the Trust.

Raman’s Fellowship to Australia, New Zealand and Singapore researched ways of enhancing access to children's universal and targeted speech and language therapy. It was supported by The Burdett Trust for Nursing.

Claire Legg

Claire Legg: delivering creative workshops for individuals living with dementia

Claire Legg (CF 2011) from Thirsk in North Yorkshire is a self-employed creative facilitator and trainer, delivering bespoke creative projects in a range of dementia-based settings.

Claire will use her grant to deliver one-to-one creative workshops for dementia residents living in care homes, to empower them to tell their stories. As dementia progresses, the person’s verbal ability declines. Claire’s project will allow residents to record their stories through objects that are meaningful to them, which can then be listened back to by them and their family members for years to come. Working with a local artist, residents will select their chosen object and record their story using electrical thread, interactive paint and sensory touch boards. Their stories will then be captured within their finished project and can be interacted with at any time, through touch. This will ensure that those living with dementia will have their voices heard and the project can be enjoyed by the resident and those around them if they become non-verbal.

Claire’s Fellowship to the USA in 2011 explored ways of providing better care for dementia patients by exploring creative access to the arts through public spaces. It was supported by The Baring Foundation.

Photograph of Leah Macaden

Leah Macaden: providing specialised Covid-19 training for care-home workers

Leah Macaden (CF 2019) from Inverness in the Highlands is a Senior Lecturer in Nursing at the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI). In December 2020, Leah received a Covid-19 Action Fund grant to develop a model of dementia education and training for care home practitioners.

This is Leah’s second Action Fund grant. She will use this grant to evaluate this training programme in three different contexts to identify recommendations for improvement. She then plans to disseminate these findings as part of the workforce development in care homes and home care contexts. Leah also hopes to share her expertise and the training resources more widely with colleagues, both within and outside the UK, to influence dementia practice.

Leah’s Fellowship to the USA in 2019 explored models of dementia nurse education and training. It was supported by The Burdett Trust for Nursing. Following this, she has been invited to become a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in recognition of her leadership and contributions to dementia education and training.

Photograph of Dorothy Smith

Dorothy Smith: supporting students in recovery from addiction

Dorothy Smith (CF 2017) from Sedgefield in Durham is the CEO of Recovery Connections, a charity supporting people with experience of addiction into recovery. In December 2020, Dorothy received a Covid-19 Action Fund grant to develop and launch a website to connect and encourage peer support among students who are recovering from addiction.

She is receiving a second Action Fund grant, to build upon her previous project by developing a recovery-focused peer support education training programme. The programme will be delivered by people with lived experience of addiction and will be available to university students and staff at Teesside University, where Dorothy works. The training will help students and staff to support those in recovery by confronting myths and stigma relating to addiction, and help open up conversations with those who may be suffering. Dorothy plans to roll out this training to 100 students with 12 months. As part of this programme, Dorothy will also develop a digital resource and leaflet for students and university staff that will aim to increase awareness and compassion.

Dorothy’s Fellowship to Czech Republic and the USA in 2017 explored collegiate recovery programmes.

James Smith

James Smith: treating addiction with music therapy

James Smith (CF 2011), from Beckenham in Kent, is a retired social worker and musician who specialises in the use of music therapy for addiction.

James will use his grant to visit rehabilitation centres, prisons and mental health institutions to share his story of addiction and the role that music played in his own recovery. He hopes that this will help to inform and inspire those suffering from addiction. James will also demonstrate the benefits of employing music in rehabilitation centres and encourage addicts to tell their story in a creative way. He will use discursive music therapy in his sessions. James will also establish a specialist website aimed at those in need of treatment for addiction. This will provide information on ways to access treatment, including government-funded rehab centres and self-help groups. James hopes this will serve as an accessible platform that can be used by members from disadvantaged and deprived communities, who often find it difficult to access treatment. James has previously presented radio shows on UK Health Radio, where he interviewed people who had overcome addiction. He will use some of his grant to continue this work, to help raise awareness of addiction and inspire others to seek help.

James’ Fellowship to the USA in 2011 explored the role of music therapy in the treatment of addiction.

Chantelle Tomlinson

Chantelle Tomlinson: improving neonatal care experiences for families

Chantelle Tomlinson (CF 2018) from Sheffield is a consultant neonatologist at Nottingham University Hospitals. Visiting restrictions during the pandemic has meant that access to neonatal units caring for such babies has been limited to parents only, meaning that grandparents, siblings and loved ones are missing out. Chantelle’s team is piloting a care package to improve support for these vulnerable families.

Chantelle will use her grant to develop this pilot and will work with families to create personalised care packages. These can include an enhanced level of secure, remote access to their baby’s journey, bespoke communication bundles with extended family, and additional new child-friendly resources to include and engage siblings. The team will be enhancing the offering of tailored one-to-one support, which is individualised to a family’s needs. Chantelle hopes this will improve the experience of the neonatal journey, and support wellbeing and positive mental health among families. She plans to share learning and powerful stories gathered with the neonatal community in the hope of improving care across the UK.

Chantelle’s Fellowship to Canada and Japan in 2018 explored improving outcomes for extremely pre-term babies.

December 2020 awards

Photograph of Churchill Fellow Nick Ambler

Nicholas Ambler: building resilience amongst intensive care staff

Nicholas Ambler (CF 1993) from Bristol is a clinical psychologist at North Bristol NHS Trust, which is home to one of the largest ICUs in the UK.

He will use his grant to launch a recuperation strategy for ICU staff based on the framework for resilience described by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. The strategy will be co-produced with ICU staff and will involve training a lead in each of the four ICU wards, as well as creating a feedback system for patient recovery stories, known to be cherished by the staff who had earlier looked after them. Nick hopes that the strategy will build staff resilience and prevent burnout. He will share the learning with frontline healthcare workers elsewhere to help them recuperate from this exceptionally intense period.

Nicholas's Churchill Fellowship to the USA in 1993 explored the care of complex pain and trauma.

Photograph of Leah Macaden

Leah Macaden: providing specialised Covid-19 training for care-home workers

Leah Macaden (CF 2019) from Inverness in Scotland is Senior Lecturer in Nursing at the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI). Leah has expertise in leading dementia nurse education initiatives for pre-registration nurse education and has developed Being Dementia Smart (2013) and Dementia Enhanced Education to Promote Excellence (DEEPE) (2017).

She will use her grant to develop a new project called Training of Trainers (TOT) Programme: Covid-19 Dementia Education for Care Homes (CODECH). Leah will work with another Churchill Fellow, Ruth Mantle, and colleagues in nurse education and educational technology at UHI to develop a tailored online dementia training programme for care-home workers in the context of the pandemic. The programme will include three web-based workbooks and virtual interactive sessions. CODECH will train 20 care-home workers working with a Care Home Group as trainers themselves, who will then cascade the training to the rest of their staff to provide dementia care tailored to the context of the Covid-19 crisis. The project hopes to boost morale amongst staff, who will be better trained and equipped for dealing with the changing demands of the pandemic.

Leah's Fellowship to the USA in 2019 explored models of dementia nurse education and training and was supported by The Burdett Trust for Nursing.

Photograph of Churchill Fellow Chloë Reeves

Chloe Reeves: advocating for people with long-term health conditions in social care reform

Chloe Reeves (CF 2018), from St Leonards-on-Sea, is Director of London Road Policy and Projects, a health and social care consultancy, and an associate of National Voices, the coalition of charities that advocates for people having more control of their health and care. During the pandemic, she worked with National Voices to launch Our Covid Voices, an online platform inviting members of the public to share their stories and experiences of health and social care, which are brought together in the report What We Need Now.

She will use her grant to support National Voices to develop and implement an influencing plan, sharing these stories, requests and recurring themes with policymakers and healthcare providers so that the people most affected by health and care reform are at the heart of it.

Chloe's Fellowship to Sweden and the Netherlands in 2018 explored third sector contribution to the Buurtzorg model of care.

Photograph of Churchill Fellow Dorothy Smith

Dorothy Smith: supporting students in recovery from addiction

Dorothy Smith (CF 2017) from Sedgefield in Durham is the CEO of Recovery Connections, a charity supporting people with experience of addiction into recovery.

She will use her grant to develop and launch a website to connect and encourage peer support among students who are recovering from addiction. The website will provide a platform for students to get information, connect with others through a chatroom and be signposted to specialist advice and support services. In this way, they will not have to go through recovery alone. Dorothy hopes that this platform will raise awareness of the need to provide recovering students with increased and more visible support across UK campuses, in order to reduce stigma, meet the needs of this group and prevent relapse.

Dorothy's Fellowship to Czechia and the USA in 2017 explored collegiate recovery programmes.

Photograph of Churchill Fellow Kerry Wykes

Kerry Wykes: supporting the wellbeing of healthcare workers

Kerry Wykes (CF 2014), an emergency nurse by background, now works as Assistant Professor in Emergency Care for Coventry University. She will use her grant to launch a series of online workshops for healthcare workers to explore their experiences of Covid-19 through the arts, in conjunction with China Plate Theatre.

Each workshop will be open to ten participants to share their experiences with each other in order to encourage compassion and self-care, and will inspire an artistic output that will be exhibited online, to reach much larger numbers. Kerry has already run a pilot project which was very well-received and allowed a number of healthcare workers to feel that their voices were heard. She plans to publish the research from her project to promote understanding of healthcare worker experiences as well as to show the benefit of the arts, particularly at a time when arts organisations are under threat.

Kerry's Fellowship to Bangladesh in 2014 explored domestic abuse services and one of her findings was how the arts can be used to tackle sensitive subjects. It was supported by The Burdett Trust for Nursing.

June 2020 awards

Photograph of Churchill Fellow Ea Draffan

E.A. Draffan: enhancing communication between healthcare workers and their patients

E.A. Draffan (CF 1995) from Pulborough in West Sussex is a speech and language therapist. She will use her grant to enhance the development of an app she has helped to create, which enables health and social care workers to communicate with patients who have difficulty communicating.

The app, called Boardbuilder, involves the use of charts, symbols and pictographic images, which the patient can select in order to communicate with their carer. The app is freely available to be used by anyone across the UK, but it currently doesn't allow personalisation for specific users and it lacks appropriate healthcare vocabulary – including images relating to Covid-19, which need to be captured. E.A. and her colleagues will enhance and expand the app so that it can become personalised, allowing charts for specific users to be saved and exported. They will develop a simple symbol creation tool, to allow health and care workers to rapidly add and adapt suitable images or graphics to expand communication. And they will expand the symbols and images available to include Covid-19 health-related issues.

E.A.'s Fellowship to the USA in 1995 explored assistive technologies for training in literacy skills.

Photograph of Churchill Fellow Sara Dunn

Sara Dunn: supporting unpaid carers during Covid-19

Digital inclusion consultant Sara Dunn (CF 2001) from Dorchester in Dorset is the founder of CuppaCare, a mobile app and micro-learning platform for care workers.

She will use her grant to develop the app so that it provides a Covid-19 survival pack, available free of charge for unpaid carers. The pack will provide free guidance designed specifically for carers and presented in an accessible format. Sara will develop the pack in consultation with carers' organisations and with her own professional networks, and will promote the app through social media.

Sara's Churchill Fellowship to Australia and New Zealand in 2001 explored best practice in providing mental health information.

Photograph of Churchill Fellow Ceinwen Giles

Ceinwen Giles: supporting young adults with cancer

Ceinwen Giles (CF 2013) from south-east London is Co-Director of Shine Cancer Support, a patient-led UK charity that supports adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s who have experienced a cancer diagnosis. During the pandemic they have adapted some of their services online, setting up video groups and online workshops, despite experiencing a dramatic fall in income due to fundraising events being cancelled.

Ceinwen will use her grant to grow this online support and develop peer-to-peer services that support young adults with cancer through the pandemic and its aftermath. A recent survey by her charity revealed that 56% of cancer patients feel socially isolated from others, 36% have experienced symptoms of depression more frequently, and 60% are experiencing anxiety more often than before lockdown. Ceinwen will pilot the development of small online groups of up to eight young adults with cancer to meet on a regular basis and support each other. She aims to create a minimum of eight groups by November 2020, including specific groups for young adults who are newly diagnosed, those from minority backgrounds and those with incurable cancer. Further expansion is planned for next year. She will document the lessons learnt through these groups, to share them with the wider cancer community.

Ceinwen's Fellowship explored innovative support to young adult cancer survivors in the USA and Canada.

Photograph of Churchill Fellow Tim Robbins

Tim Robbins: treating high-risk Covid-19 patients with diabetes

Doctor Tim Robbins (CF 2016) from Weston under Wetherley in Warwickshire will use his grant to monitor the health and wellbeing of Covid-19 patients from deprived communities who have diabetes. Tim has led work to issue digital glucose sensors for in-patients with Covid-19 and diabetes within his NHS Trust, allowing much closer monitoring than the usual finger-prick tests, so that they can be treated with the right healthcare support.

So far, this work has only been possible in hospital settings but Tim will use the grant to expand it into hard-to-reach and deprived high-risk populations after hospital discharge. This is needed because the mental and physical impacts of Covid-19 will last longer in such populations and may widen already existing health inequalities. Tim will engage further with these communities, focusing not only on blood-sugar control but also on mental health needs. He will develop and demonstrate the effectiveness of such a model via his NHS Trust – University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust – with the aim that it could be rolled out more widely.

Tim’s Fellowship to the USA in 2016 explored patient-centred digital health and personalised care.

January 2022 awards

Lisa Baum

Lisa Baum: providing holistic care to ‘Long Covid’ patients

Lisa Baum (CF 2011) from London is a psychotherapist and is working to support sufferers of ‘Long Covid’. NHS clinics are reportedly overwhelmed with cases, leaving many people feeling isolated with their symptoms.

Lisa will use her grant to provide a free12-week holistic support programme for ‘Long Covid’ sufferers in Peckham and Southwark, where cases are particularly high. This will include aromatherapy yoga, Shiatsu and acupuncture sessions, which are both proven to decrease inflammation and improve the regulation of the nervous system. Participants will also be invited to attend facilitated support sessions that will provide methods of managing ‘Long Covid’. These sessions will also be a safe space for participants to discuss their concerns with others who are suffering from the condition, with the aim of reducing feelings of isolation. Lisa also plans to offer one-to-one counselling to participants, so that they can process the impact that the condition has had on their mental health and learn wellbeing tools that will help them to cope with their symptoms.

Lisa’s Fellowship to Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway explored ways of inspiring pupils to explore by cycling.

Raman Kaur

Raman Kaur: improving speech and language therapy services

Raman Kaur (CF 2014) is a speech and language therapist and Divisional Allied Health Professional (AHP) lead at Birmingham Community Health Care Trust. During the pandemic, she has been leading the service to support speech and language staff to deliver sessions to children and families virtually.

Raman will use her grant to support AHP students to deliver these sessions as part of a hybrid approach, which will include both online and in-person support. As part of this support, Raman will develop a training package for speech and language students. This will include best practice for virtual consultations, a mentorship package and training that will be co-produced with children and families to ensure that it reflects their needs. Raman will then deliver this training to a cohort of 20 students during their eight week clinical placement training. Raman will also set up a focus group to monitor the impact of the training and mentorship package, and will use these insights to develop a set of recommendations for the AHP Faculty at the Trust.

Raman’s Fellowship to Australia, New Zealand and Singapore researched ways of enhancing access to children's universal and targeted speech and language therapy. It was supported by The Burdett Trust for Nursing.

Claire Legg

Claire Legg: delivering creative workshops for individuals living with dementia

Claire Legg (CF 2011) from Thirsk in North Yorkshire is a self-employed creative facilitator and trainer, delivering bespoke creative projects in a range of dementia-based settings.

Claire will use her grant to deliver one-to-one creative workshops for dementia residents living in care homes, to empower them to tell their stories. As dementia progresses, the person’s verbal ability declines. Claire’s project will allow residents to record their stories through objects that are meaningful to them, which can then be listened back to by them and their family members for years to come. Working with a local artist, residents will select their chosen object and record their story using electrical thread, interactive paint and sensory touch boards. Their stories will then be captured within their finished project and can be interacted with at any time, through touch. This will ensure that those living with dementia will have their voices heard and the project can be enjoyed by the resident and those around them if they become non-verbal.

Claire’s Fellowship to the USA in 2011 explored ways of providing better care for dementia patients by exploring creative access to the arts through public spaces. It was supported by The Baring Foundation.

Photograph of Leah Macaden

Leah Macaden: providing specialised Covid-19 training for care-home workers

Leah Macaden (CF 2019) from Inverness in the Highlands is a Senior Lecturer in Nursing at the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI). In December 2020, Leah received a Covid-19 Action Fund grant to develop a model of dementia education and training for care home practitioners.

This is Leah’s second Action Fund grant. She will use this grant to evaluate this training programme in three different contexts to identify recommendations for improvement. She then plans to disseminate these findings as part of the workforce development in care homes and home care contexts. Leah also hopes to share her expertise and the training resources more widely with colleagues, both within and outside the UK, to influence dementia practice.

Leah’s Fellowship to the USA in 2019 explored models of dementia nurse education and training. It was supported by The Burdett Trust for Nursing. Following this, she has been invited to become a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in recognition of her leadership and contributions to dementia education and training.

Photograph of Dorothy Smith

Dorothy Smith: supporting students in recovery from addiction

Dorothy Smith (CF 2017) from Sedgefield in Durham is the CEO of Recovery Connections, a charity supporting people with experience of addiction into recovery. In December 2020, Dorothy received a Covid-19 Action Fund grant to develop and launch a website to connect and encourage peer support among students who are recovering from addiction.

She is receiving a second Action Fund grant, to build upon her previous project by developing a recovery-focused peer support education training programme. The programme will be delivered by people with lived experience of addiction and will be available to university students and staff at Teesside University, where Dorothy works. The training will help students and staff to support those in recovery by confronting myths and stigma relating to addiction, and help open up conversations with those who may be suffering. Dorothy plans to roll out this training to 100 students with 12 months. As part of this programme, Dorothy will also develop a digital resource and leaflet for students and university staff that will aim to increase awareness and compassion.

Dorothy’s Fellowship to Czech Republic and the USA in 2017 explored collegiate recovery programmes.

James Smith

James Smith: treating addiction with music therapy

James Smith (CF 2011), from Beckenham in Kent, is a retired social worker and musician who specialises in the use of music therapy for addiction.

James will use his grant to visit rehabilitation centres, prisons and mental health institutions to share his story of addiction and the role that music played in his own recovery. He hopes that this will help to inform and inspire those suffering from addiction. James will also demonstrate the benefits of employing music in rehabilitation centres and encourage addicts to tell their story in a creative way. He will use discursive music therapy in his sessions. James will also establish a specialist website aimed at those in need of treatment for addiction. This will provide information on ways to access treatment, including government-funded rehab centres and self-help groups. James hopes this will serve as an accessible platform that can be used by members from disadvantaged and deprived communities, who often find it difficult to access treatment. James has previously presented radio shows on UK Health Radio, where he interviewed people who had overcome addiction. He will use some of his grant to continue this work, to help raise awareness of addiction and inspire others to seek help.

James’ Fellowship to the USA in 2011 explored the role of music therapy in the treatment of addiction.

Chantelle Tomlinson

Chantelle Tomlinson: improving neonatal care experiences for families

Chantelle Tomlinson (CF 2018) from Sheffield is a consultant neonatologist at Nottingham University Hospitals. Visiting restrictions during the pandemic has meant that access to neonatal units caring for such babies has been limited to parents only, meaning that grandparents, siblings and loved ones are missing out. Chantelle’s team is piloting a care package to improve support for these vulnerable families.

Chantelle will use her grant to develop this pilot and will work with families to create personalised care packages. These can include an enhanced level of secure, remote access to their baby’s journey, bespoke communication bundles with extended family, and additional new child-friendly resources to include and engage siblings. The team will be enhancing the offering of tailored one-to-one support, which is individualised to a family’s needs. Chantelle hopes this will improve the experience of the neonatal journey, and support wellbeing and positive mental health among families. She plans to share learning and powerful stories gathered with the neonatal community in the hope of improving care across the UK.

Chantelle’s Fellowship to Canada and Japan in 2018 explored improving outcomes for extremely pre-term babies.

December 2020 awards

Photograph of Churchill Fellow Nick Ambler

Nicholas Ambler: building resilience amongst intensive care staff

Nicholas Ambler (CF 1993) from Bristol is a clinical psychologist at North Bristol NHS Trust, which is home to one of the largest ICUs in the UK.

He will use his grant to launch a recuperation strategy for ICU staff based on the framework for resilience described by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. The strategy will be co-produced with ICU staff and will involve training a lead in each of the four ICU wards, as well as creating a feedback system for patient recovery stories, known to be cherished by the staff who had earlier looked after them. Nick hopes that the strategy will build staff resilience and prevent burnout. He will share the learning with frontline healthcare workers elsewhere to help them recuperate from this exceptionally intense period.

Nicholas's Churchill Fellowship to the USA in 1993 explored the care of complex pain and trauma.

Photograph of Leah Macaden

Leah Macaden: providing specialised Covid-19 training for care-home workers

Leah Macaden (CF 2019) from Inverness in Scotland is Senior Lecturer in Nursing at the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI). Leah has expertise in leading dementia nurse education initiatives for pre-registration nurse education and has developed Being Dementia Smart (2013) and Dementia Enhanced Education to Promote Excellence (DEEPE) (2017).

She will use her grant to develop a new project called Training of Trainers (TOT) Programme: Covid-19 Dementia Education for Care Homes (CODECH). Leah will work with another Churchill Fellow, Ruth Mantle, and colleagues in nurse education and educational technology at UHI to develop a tailored online dementia training programme for care-home workers in the context of the pandemic. The programme will include three web-based workbooks and virtual interactive sessions. CODECH will train 20 care-home workers working with a Care Home Group as trainers themselves, who will then cascade the training to the rest of their staff to provide dementia care tailored to the context of the Covid-19 crisis. The project hopes to boost morale amongst staff, who will be better trained and equipped for dealing with the changing demands of the pandemic.

Leah's Fellowship to the USA in 2019 explored models of dementia nurse education and training and was supported by The Burdett Trust for Nursing.

Photograph of Churchill Fellow Chloë Reeves

Chloe Reeves: advocating for people with long-term health conditions in social care reform

Chloe Reeves (CF 2018), from St Leonards-on-Sea, is Director of London Road Policy and Projects, a health and social care consultancy, and an associate of National Voices, the coalition of charities that advocates for people having more control of their health and care. During the pandemic, she worked with National Voices to launch Our Covid Voices, an online platform inviting members of the public to share their stories and experiences of health and social care, which are brought together in the report What We Need Now.

She will use her grant to support National Voices to develop and implement an influencing plan, sharing these stories, requests and recurring themes with policymakers and healthcare providers so that the people most affected by health and care reform are at the heart of it.

Chloe's Fellowship to Sweden and the Netherlands in 2018 explored third sector contribution to the Buurtzorg model of care.

Photograph of Churchill Fellow Dorothy Smith

Dorothy Smith: supporting students in recovery from addiction

Dorothy Smith (CF 2017) from Sedgefield in Durham is the CEO of Recovery Connections, a charity supporting people with experience of addiction into recovery.

She will use her grant to develop and launch a website to connect and encourage peer support among students who are recovering from addiction. The website will provide a platform for students to get information, connect with others through a chatroom and be signposted to specialist advice and support services. In this way, they will not have to go through recovery alone. Dorothy hopes that this platform will raise awareness of the need to provide recovering students with increased and more visible support across UK campuses, in order to reduce stigma, meet the needs of this group and prevent relapse.

Dorothy's Fellowship to Czechia and the USA in 2017 explored collegiate recovery programmes.

Photograph of Churchill Fellow Kerry Wykes

Kerry Wykes: supporting the wellbeing of healthcare workers

Kerry Wykes (CF 2014), an emergency nurse by background, now works as Assistant Professor in Emergency Care for Coventry University. She will use her grant to launch a series of online workshops for healthcare workers to explore their experiences of Covid-19 through the arts, in conjunction with China Plate Theatre.

Each workshop will be open to ten participants to share their experiences with each other in order to encourage compassion and self-care, and will inspire an artistic output that will be exhibited online, to reach much larger numbers. Kerry has already run a pilot project which was very well-received and allowed a number of healthcare workers to feel that their voices were heard. She plans to publish the research from her project to promote understanding of healthcare worker experiences as well as to show the benefit of the arts, particularly at a time when arts organisations are under threat.

Kerry's Fellowship to Bangladesh in 2014 explored domestic abuse services and one of her findings was how the arts can be used to tackle sensitive subjects. It was supported by The Burdett Trust for Nursing.

June 2020 awards

Photograph of Churchill Fellow Ea Draffan

E.A. Draffan: enhancing communication between healthcare workers and their patients

E.A. Draffan (CF 1995) from Pulborough in West Sussex is a speech and language therapist. She will use her grant to enhance the development of an app she has helped to create, which enables health and social care workers to communicate with patients who have difficulty communicating.

The app, called Boardbuilder, involves the use of charts, symbols and pictographic images, which the patient can select in order to communicate with their carer. The app is freely available to be used by anyone across the UK, but it currently doesn't allow personalisation for specific users and it lacks appropriate healthcare vocabulary – including images relating to Covid-19, which need to be captured. E.A. and her colleagues will enhance and expand the app so that it can become personalised, allowing charts for specific users to be saved and exported. They will develop a simple symbol creation tool, to allow health and care workers to rapidly add and adapt suitable images or graphics to expand communication. And they will expand the symbols and images available to include Covid-19 health-related issues.

E.A.'s Fellowship to the USA in 1995 explored assistive technologies for training in literacy skills.

Photograph of Churchill Fellow Sara Dunn

Sara Dunn: supporting unpaid carers during Covid-19

Digital inclusion consultant Sara Dunn (CF 2001) from Dorchester in Dorset is the founder of CuppaCare, a mobile app and micro-learning platform for care workers.

She will use her grant to develop the app so that it provides a Covid-19 survival pack, available free of charge for unpaid carers. The pack will provide free guidance designed specifically for carers and presented in an accessible format. Sara will develop the pack in consultation with carers' organisations and with her own professional networks, and will promote the app through social media.

Sara's Churchill Fellowship to Australia and New Zealand in 2001 explored best practice in providing mental health information.

Photograph of Churchill Fellow Ceinwen Giles

Ceinwen Giles: supporting young adults with cancer

Ceinwen Giles (CF 2013) from south-east London is Co-Director of Shine Cancer Support, a patient-led UK charity that supports adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s who have experienced a cancer diagnosis. During the pandemic they have adapted some of their services online, setting up video groups and online workshops, despite experiencing a dramatic fall in income due to fundraising events being cancelled.

Ceinwen will use her grant to grow this online support and develop peer-to-peer services that support young adults with cancer through the pandemic and its aftermath. A recent survey by her charity revealed that 56% of cancer patients feel socially isolated from others, 36% have experienced symptoms of depression more frequently, and 60% are experiencing anxiety more often than before lockdown. Ceinwen will pilot the development of small online groups of up to eight young adults with cancer to meet on a regular basis and support each other. She aims to create a minimum of eight groups by November 2020, including specific groups for young adults who are newly diagnosed, those from minority backgrounds and those with incurable cancer. Further expansion is planned for next year. She will document the lessons learnt through these groups, to share them with the wider cancer community.

Ceinwen's Fellowship explored innovative support to young adult cancer survivors in the USA and Canada.

Photograph of Churchill Fellow Tim Robbins

Tim Robbins: treating high-risk Covid-19 patients with diabetes

Doctor Tim Robbins (CF 2016) from Weston under Wetherley in Warwickshire will use his grant to monitor the health and wellbeing of Covid-19 patients from deprived communities who have diabetes. Tim has led work to issue digital glucose sensors for in-patients with Covid-19 and diabetes within his NHS Trust, allowing much closer monitoring than the usual finger-prick tests, so that they can be treated with the right healthcare support.

So far, this work has only been possible in hospital settings but Tim will use the grant to expand it into hard-to-reach and deprived high-risk populations after hospital discharge. This is needed because the mental and physical impacts of Covid-19 will last longer in such populations and may widen already existing health inequalities. Tim will engage further with these communities, focusing not only on blood-sugar control but also on mental health needs. He will develop and demonstrate the effectiveness of such a model via his NHS Trust – University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust – with the aim that it could be rolled out more widely.

Tim’s Fellowship to the USA in 2016 explored patient-centred digital health and personalised care.

Newsletter Sign Up