Help the Hospices will develop and manage a three year programme of nurse-led projects targeting issues around widening access to hospice care. Through the innovation, knowledge and leadership of hospice nurses, the programme will facilitate sustainable changes to hospice practice and services, which will increase access to care for all members of the community who need it. Grants will be available to fund both pilot and more substantial initiatives which will bring new ideas, benefits and improved practice to local communities, the national hospice movement, the wider nursing profession and, most importantly, to patients. All projects will be supported by a practice facilitator at Help the Hospices, and findings will be disseminated throughout the hospice nursing sector.

The Florence Nightingale Foundation has formed a partnership with the Burdett Trust to award scholarships aimed at helping nurses, midwives and allied health professionals develop their leadership skills. The scholarships are open to British and Commonwealth nurses, midwives and allied health professionals working and living in the UK and those awarded a Florence Nightingale Leadership Scholarship will undertake a bespoke programme geared to his/her individual needs. The programme may involve travelling abroad, attending relevant courses, visiting health care facilities, shadowing senior leaders and learning about the political process. These scholarships are intended to be ambitious; to make a significant difference to the careers of high-quality individuals who have considerable leadership potential.

The Foundation of Nursing Studies will use Burdett’s funds to provide the Patients First Programme which will offer support and facilitation to clinically based nurse-led teams to help them to develop, implement and evaluate locally focused innovations that improve patient care in any healthcare setting across the UK. The programme will help to keep a central focus on the patient and the issues that matter to them the most. It will offer advice on developing effective project plans/proposals and access to practice development tools and resources. The programme will include workshops that will bring together the nurse-led teams to explore and enable effective strategies for developing and changing practice and provide opportunities for networking and sharing. Peer mentorship will link up team leaders with those who have completed similar initiatives and facilitation in the workplace will enable the development of knowledge and skills in leadership.

The QNI and Burdett Trust for Nursing funding partnership programme will support nurse-led local projects which aim to improve the care of patients and to enhance the leadership skills of nurses. QNI will support innovative projects, led by community nurses, midwives or health visitors, which set up new services or improved ways of working. As well as offering grants the programme will offer a full year of professional development and support. All project leaders will benefit from QNI’s unique and highly-rated developmental workshops. The programme aims to achieve sustainable innovation in services, and a new cohort of confident nurse leaders for the future.

Towards the ‘We Care Programme’, an innovative nurse-led programme which brings together a range of initiatives to improve the experience of patients and service efficiency, as well as engaging and motivating staff.

To support practising and former members of the nursing profession in need, thus meeting one of the Trust’s core objects: to provide for the relief of hardship and mental or physical ill-health among nurses and other health-care professionals, and their dependants.

A controlled trial to assess the benefits of a nurse-led post-intensive care follow-up service.

Research to look at barriers to adequate blood pressure (BP) control in primary care & piloting of a nurse-led intervention to overcome them.

A qualitative study of the experience of patients with heart failure and the impact of community specialist nurses in self-management.

Project Nurse in Crisis 2004-5 which employs advisers skilled in therapeutic intervention to help nurses return to work whose personal problems threaten their fitness to practice.

To help 500 hospice nurses continue their professional development and leadership skills.

To pilot a major initiative to raise standards of community healthcare through the professional development of community nurses, nurse consultants and practitioners.

To identify instances and hindrances to inter-professional collaboration in out-of- hospital emergency care and from this develop and test models of collaboration.

An action research project aimed at improving mental health care for older people.

Research to explore the pain experiences of residents living in care homes and develop a package of care to be implemented by nurses and carers.

Two year's pumps prime funding for a full-time Parkinson's Disease Nurse Specialist to ensure individually centred specialist nursing care for people with Parkinson's and their carers.

An exploratory study into the perceptions of young people with cystic fibrosis and their professional carers as they transfer from paediatric to adult services.

A research study to investigate the effect of reducing caffeine intake on urinary systems in women with overactive bladder syndrome.

An exploratory study to observe nursing practice in the administration of psychotropic medication and an evaluation of clinical, nursing and patient outcomes following the delivery of a medication management course.

A Lymphoma Association Clinical Nurse Specialist in an NHS Haematology Unit.

A nurse led action research project examining end of life care between home, nursing homes and district hospitals

To explore the challenges and issues associated with nurses and older people working in partnership in practice development work and form a better understanding of how to train older people and nurses to do so.

An evaluation of work-based learning and its impact on leadership, education and improving practice.

Towards the cost of a Nurse Leader to design and implement a training programme to support their new rehabilitation service.

To fund a network for nurses/practitioners/researchers for the advancement of knowledge and practice in dementia, specifically concerned with wandering and its related behaviours.

To determine from the perspective of children, families and professionals the value of nurse-led specialist services for young people with life-shortening conditions compared to that provided in an acute health service setting.

Central Manchester & Manchester Children's University Hospitals NHS Trust A research assistant to co-ordinate, support and progress a project developing an instrument to measure CAMHS inpatient dependency.

A palliative care nurse to raise the standards in rural hospitals in care for the terminally-ill.

Towards the annual programme of small grants to encourage nurses to develop practice and empower them to use their knowledge and evidence effectively to provide the best possible care for patients and carers.

A study to evaluate whether reflective groups help nurses to become reflective practictioners.

Funding the development of an Institute of Gastrointestinal Nursing.

Towards the cost of the seminar programme for Macmillan nurses.

Towards "Enhancing The Healing Environment", a programme where nursing and other staff use colour, light and design to brighten up their surroundings. Projects range from transforming waiting rooms to commissioning new pieces of art and sculpture.

Towards the cost of the first systematic investigation of the nursing workforce globally. The analysis aims to identify the policy and practice issues and solutions that should be considered by governments, international agencies, employers and professional associations.

To help nurses, midwives and health visitors to get back to work aftera serious crisis.

To pilot a disability nurse specialist in Colchester Hospital to care for patients and train other staff in the hospital.