Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity is seeking two committee members for its Small Grants Committee

Guy's and St Thomas' Charity awards around £800,000 each year in Small Grants programmes. The grants (which are up to £20,000) support the development of new services and innovations in health care.

The grants support a range of new services and are awarded to Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust (the Charity’s main beneficiary), South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, and to Lambeth and Southwark Primary Care Trusts. Other organisations (including community and voluntary sector organisations) can access the funds with the support of one of these NHS Trusts.

The Small Grants Committee

Applications are considered under three themes:

• Clinical and service innovations (including the involvement of patients and users)
• Buildings and the environment
• Staff benefits and development

Further information on the Committee’s funding themes is availabe here.

The Small Grants Committee is chaired by Peter Hewitt, CBE, Chief Executive of the Charity. The Committee currently has six members who act in an advisory capacity. They are drawn from the NHS and the Charity. The full committee membership can be found here.

On average, 80 applications are considered by each committee. Examples of projects funded by the Charity under the programme can be found here.

The Charity wishes to recruit two replacement committee members who can provide the following perspectives on the applications that are submitted to the Committee:

• Community mental health, particularly around social inclusion, rehabilitation and recovery
• Therapies, particularly acute and community therapy services

Committee members should have an understanding of the context within which health services are delivered, especially the relationship between acute care services and primary / community and social care services.

The commitment

The Committee meets every six weeks on Tuesday afternoon from 2pm until 4pm.

Committee members are expected to commit to attending all committee meetings. Additionally, members are expected to have read the whole agenda and be able to provide a brief verbal introduction on at least one application that will have been allocated as part of the Committee’s procedures.

The reward

Being a member of the Small Grants Committee will enable you to make a positive contribution to improving health services. You will learn about a wide variety of health and social care issues that affect people and play a part in influencing and providing solutions to these issues. You will also increase your own service development skills and gain a broad understanding of how the NHS functions. There is no payment for committee membership.

The specification

The Charity is looking for an additional two people to service on its Small Grants Committee who can bring a community mental health or a therapies perspective to the meetings, particularly the relationship between primary care, including general practice, and acute care. The person/s must:

1. Have an understanding of the role of evaluation in service development
2. Have an understanding of how services can be developed in partnership with patients and the public
3. Have an understanding of the role of charitable funding in improving health services
4. Have time to prepare for, and attend, the meetings.

The process

If you are interested in being a member of the Small Grants Committee, please complete the application form and email it by Friday 26 March 2010 to David Jones. Applications will be shortlisted soon after with interviews held in early April 2010.

For an informal discussion about the role you can call David Jones, Director of Grant Making at Guys and St Thomas’ Charity, on 020 7188 1207.