Royal College’s Hope Foundation Announces Grants Awards

The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow’s HOPE Foundation has announced its first round of funding, awarding seven grants to a variety of organisations. The projects supported by these grants range from work in Glasgow to support homeless people to funding a doctor to provide healthcare in Amazonian Peru.

The seven successful organisations that have been granted funding are:

Glasgow City Mission for the Winter Night Shelter
Medics Against Violence for a violence reduction Mindfulness project
Glasgow based Eiger Music for the Fit-as-a Fiddle project
ReSurge Africa for Noma Flap and Microsurgery Training in Accra, Ghana
Diabetic Foot Management Training in Malawi
Vine Trust for a volunteer physician to support outreach healthcare in Amazonian Peru
King’s Kongo Central Partnership Safer Surgery Training

The HOPE Foundation is a philanthropic fund of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, a charity registered in Scotland. Its purpose is to make a positive difference to the health of people living in challenging circumstances where access to quality healthcare is, for whatever reason, limited.

The fund receives donations from the Fellows, Members and friends of the College to support projects that overcome barriers to quality healthcare locally, nationally and internationally.

Mike McKirdy, Chair of the Hope Foundation said:

“I am delighted to announce these very important grants that have the capacity to transform lives in our own area and through global citizenship. The HOPE Foundation can make these grants thanks to Fellows, Members and friends of the College who have donated to the fund. I thank them and wish our grantees every success in their activities over the coming year.”

Lorna McIntosh, Winter Night Shelter Manager at the Glasgow City Mission said:

“Glasgow City Mission is very grateful for the generous donation of £10,000 for the Glasgow Winter Night Shelter from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow’s HOPE Foundation.

“The Glasgow Winter Night Shelter provides a safe and warm place to sleep for those who would otherwise be sleeping rough during the coldest winter months. The donation from the HOPE Foundation will help improve the health and wellbeing of some of the most vulnerable men and women in Glasgow who stay at the night shelter.

“Those who use the night shelter often lead chaotic lifestyles which can be characterised by poor mental and physical health, however, looking after their health can be low down their priority list. The night shelter enables guests at the shelter to receive the healthcare they require.

“For example, NHS Hunter Street, which includes a GP service for people who are homeless, is just around the corner from the night shelter. Staff at the night shelter make guests aware of the services on offer at Hunter Street and encourage them to go. Having a member of the night shelter team explain to a guest what happens at Hunter Street and encouraging them to go works well.

“Nurses from NHS Hunter Street attend the night shelter each morning which ensures the guests receive vital medical attention they would otherwise miss out on. Thank you once again to the HOPE Foundation.”

Emily Adams, the Vine Trust said:

“Vine Trust is an international development charity which is involved in long-term health partnerships with local organisations to strengthen health systems, increasing access to primary healthcare to remote and vulnerable communities. As part of its activities, Vine Trust offers health professionals the opportunity to participate in short-term volunteering opportunities on-board our medical ships in the Peruvian Amazon. Working alongside our national team in 2018, volunteers helped Vine Trust to deliver 248,000 consultations across our 3 vessels. The grant awarded from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow’s HOPE Foundation will be allocated directly to aiding the Amazon Hope programme in delivering more consultations to those in remote Amazonia with little or no access to healthcare in 2019.”

Anne Cumming, a Trustee of EigeR Music SCIO said:

‘’Eiger Music is delighted to receive funding from the HOPE Foundation for our new ‘Fit-as-a-Fiddle’ project, which will enable us to buy 2 electric fiddles/violins, headphones and tablets, to enhance our fiddle tuition. We run a weekly workshop in a local community hall in Woodside, and have different musical instruments all in the one space, so electric fiddles help resolve some logistical problems (learners can hear themselves!), and each learner can work on different tunes of their own choice, with guidance from our Volunteer Tutors”

‘’Learning to play a musical instrument has many benefits – from increasing your confidence, learning new skills, meeting new people, improving health and wellbeing for isolated people and above all it’s FUN!”

Elizabeth Tissingh, Partnership Lead at the King’s Kongo Central Partnership (KKCP) said:

“The King’s Kongo Central Partnership (KKCP) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is working with local government to improve health care and its outcomes by empowering people, strengthening organisations and enhancing systems. Our current focus on trauma care includes capacity building in safe surgery, an integral part of universal health coverage, and a real need with the burden of road traffic incidents in the region. We are delighted to have been awarded a grant from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow’s HOPE Foundation. This will fund multi-disciplinary training workshops in safe surgery and grow a community of practice that provides safe, timely and affordable surgery. KKCP is one of the King’s Global Health Partnerships initiatives of King’s College London.”

Lecturer in podiatry and clinical specialist of the foot in diabetes at Glasgow Caledonian University, Debbie Wilson said:
“Both Emeritus Professor, Stuart Baird of Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) and I are delighted to announce our successful application for funding from the HOPE Foundation, to deliver a Diabetes Foot Management Masterclass in Malawi in order to identify and improve the management of the foot in patients presenting with diabetes.

Diabetes poses a burden on healthcare services around the world, however in many African countries where resources are already scarce, or cut back, this burden is realised more than ever.

The funds pledged by the HOPE foundation will be used to deliver a three-day masterclass in the foot in diabetes in Malawi. Two days will be devoted to the assessment, prevention and management of the foot in diabetes, and will be delivered by a series of masterclasses and practical workshops. Day 3 will be devoted to determination of future need, the potential for capacity, sustainability and networking. The impact of the programme will be measured by the increase in clinician knowledge regarding the assessment and management of diabetes foot disease.

This will therefore be an influential and inspirational project. It will help to inspire individual clinicians and support new and focused activity in the early detection of the foot in diabetes, thereby breaking down barriers to quality healthcare.”