Our largest area of charitable spend, community resilience, reflects our continued focus on creating partnerships and community engagement. As in previous years, we have used this area to measure our impact.
The evaluation of our charity funded projects looks at:
- Evidence, feedback and performance monitoring about how the funds were spent, take-up by patients and any scope to scale up the project
- Contribution to our regional health and social care outcomes
- Supporting to our regional charity sector partnerships
Current projects
Your Trust Charity began delivery of ‘SCORE’, a programme supported by The Prince’s Trust, via the Department of Health and Social Care. This aims to recruit, train and equip 16 to 30 year olds from across the region in readiness for entry level jobs and apprenticeships.
Started in January 2022, and with an estimated completion date of March 2024, SCORE is being designed with input from SWB’s Volunteer Services and the Nursing and Midwifery team as a partner-led volunteer to career pathway. This focuses on supporting young people as volunteers to receive training and placements, before being recruited for specific entry level Health Care Assistants (HCA) roles.
Progress of the programme:
- Initially co-financed with match funds provided by the charity worth £17,500 for the employment of part-time project support staff in the Volunteers Services.
- SCORE 1.0 was an initial commission secured from the Princes Trust worth £43,000 for co-ordinating on-boarding activities and for the training of young people between the ages 16 to 30 in readiness for entry level jobs within the Health & Social Care sector. SCORE 2.0 has attracted £35,000 in grant aid again from the Prince’s Trust, to continue delivery and meeting of job outcomes.
- With £78,000 secured from external sources, the Return on the Financial Investment ratio for every £1 being invested has so far provided another £4.46 in added value.
- SCORE outcomes have seen some 46 people being engaged out of which 22 young people have secured jobs in Health & Social Care.
Previous projects
- Allocated £80,238
- Project Start Date: July 2019
Cancer Services proudly ran their 7th annual wellbeing fayre on Saturday 6th July 2019, with 300 attendees including cancer patients and their carers/significant others, to celebrate where they are and what they have achieved. 186 evaluations were received, rating the following activities which were part of the overall programme run during the fayre
- Mindfulness – 100% good
- Meditation – 92% good
- Pampering (arm or head massage) – 94% good
- Nail art/Henna/Eyebrow threading – 96% good
- Floristry – 100% good
- Reiki – 97% good
Comments from attendees included:
I attend each year and the ladies are so lovely and helpful, it’s so relaxing”
“It’s a wonderful event and means a lot to spend the day with my Mum, feel good factor for volunteers, patients & carers. Clearly a lot of hard work by all – thank you. All of the day is great.”
Cancer Services have also established two new Living With and Beyond Cancer support groups in our community. Based in West Bromwich and West Birmingham respectively, the groups will look to engage with those from Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities, with a particular focus on South Asian Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities. The groups will look to empower these patients to better understand cancer and to have the necessary skills and opportunities to make healthier lifestyle choices. The groups will also look to improve awareness of, and signposting to, culturally-specific information, advice and support that is available locally.
Lastly, a new part-time dietician for Cancer Services began in December 2019. Our dietitian plays a key role in supporting our patients in their cancer journey – from diagnosis to post treatment, and palliative and end of life care. Nutritional counselling and tailored advice through dietician clinics is a priority in helping to reduce the burden of symptoms. This will maintain optimum nutrition and providing relief from the distress that cancer causes. The dietician will look to work with 1,500 contacts per year.
- Awarded funding of £29,500 from Sandwell Safer Partnership (SSP)
- Project Start Date: November 2015
Beginning in November 2015, Your Trust Charity funded an integrated response service to Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA), in partnership with Black Country Women’s Aid. Two Independent Domestic Violence Advisers (IDVAs) are placed within in Sandwell and City Hospital emergency departments respectively, and an Information Officer captures data across both sites. Since 2019, the charity has received an annual grant of £29,500 from Sandwell Safer Partnership (SSP) towards the Sandwell service.
From April 2019 – March 2020, 245 referrals were received by the service (133 from Sandwell). Of those:
- 63 (26 per cent) received ongoing community support from Black Country Women’s Aid
- 75 (31 per cent) were referred to other support services
- 46 (18 per cent) received advice and guidance/crisis intervention only
- 25 (11 per cent) are still open to the service for further crisis interventions
The service reaches more individuals under 20, significantly more over 50s, and greater proportions of male victims and those from BAME backgrounds than community-based domestic abuse services. We are also extremely conscious that there will most likely be an increase in cases for the ED IDVA service, due to the Covid-19 emergency and lock down situation.
Comments from users of the service included:
“I feel a lot better; you made me feel comfortable and not embarrassed at all”
“It was good to have someone to talk too”
“Thank you for listening and helping me and still contacting me again to reassure me that I will still get the same support.”
- Allocated £118,854, awarded match-funding of £118,854 from Birmingham City Council
- Project Start Date: October 2019
The World of Work (WoW) is a component of a much wider Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) programme. Alongside our partners at Birmingham City Council (BCC) and the Department of Works and Pensions (DWP), the charity is delivering a strand of the European Social Fund (ESF) supported employability pathways programme. This is for unemployed people (ages 25+) that met the criteria.
Key strands of the WoW programme are:
- Project governance, performance monitoring and reporting of WoW programme delivery. This involves running a Partnership Steering Group, consisting of identified personnel representing the Trust including SWB Finance, HR Business Partners, Trust Bank, Widening Participation Teams, Volunteers Service and Your Trust Charity. Operationally, the day to day operational services of WoW is delivered by the Volunteers Service team, with accountabilities and project management within the remit of Your Trust Charity.
- To primarily deliver a 12 month programme, due to complete in October 2020, which would have recruited and trained 150 unemployed people from across Birmingham catchment of: – Aston, Handsworth, Handsworth Wood, Lozells, Ladywood, Perry Barr and Soho neighbourhoods of Birmingham. These are referenced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) as ‘regional super output areas, where there is an unprecedented level of high unemployment amongst marginalised groups and particularly Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities.
As at 31st March 2020:
- 43 beneficiaries were recruited and have accessed the employability services being provided through WoW.
- 37 beneficiaries undertook 6 weeks of training with the Trust, including 2 weeks part-time work experience placements
- 9 beneficiaries have successfully progressed into employment
- Awarded funding of £345,690 from Homes England
- Project Start Date: October 2019
Your Trust Charity received the largest grant in its history from Homes England, which enabled our Trust to undertake a feasibility study with key partners into an exciting potential community housing scheme on our estate. The aim of the study was to explore potential demands and developments of an affordable social housing scheme for local workers and NHS staff within the catchment area. The potential development would consist of approximately 120 dwellings, comprising of a mixed tenure of apartments, flats and houses, ranging from 1 to 3 bedrooms units.
This included compiling feasibility and site plans to inform the approach, rationale and business cost options for this potential flagship social housing development. Feedback from surveys was completed to evidence the demand for a future scheme to be community-led. Follow-up consultations were held again with key partners, stakeholders, NHS staff and employees, emergency services personnel, key worker staff employed with schools, West Midlands Emergency Services personnel and other employees working in mainstream roles. This was to gauge interest about the potential development of the scheme.
A business case is now being developed to begin the next stage of the planning application processes, subject to financing, consent and approval from the Trust and Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council.