Preliminary Application 2026 - Advancing Healthcare Large Grants

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This form has either already been submitted OR is currently unavailable for submission. For assistance, please contact funding@bartscharity.org.uk.

Before starting your application, please familiarise yourself with:
All policies are available on our website 
here.

We also encourage you to contact the Funding & Impact team to discuss your plans as they can provide specific advice and guidance to support the development of the application and project. If you have any questions, please contact funding@bartscharity.org.uk.

You can download a sample version of the form here. You may use this Word version of the form to help prepare your application.

We are committed to making our application processes accessible. Please get in touch if you require any reasonable adjustments.

Fields marked with a red asterisk (*) are must be completed in order to submit the form.


In ticking this you as the Lead Applicant confirm that:




Section 1: Application Summary




You may request up to 36 months of support.

Guidance: This date should be as realistic as possible, taking into account the amount of time that it will take Barts Charity to assess and award your application and for you to prepare to start the work (including obtaining any relevant approvals). Advancing Healthcare Large Grant applications typically take 7-8 months to process, from submission of preliminary application to final funding decision. You may adjust this start date if your application is successful. We expect most Advancing Healthcare Large Grants to start within 12 months of a successful funding decision.

If your application is successful, this is the organisation that will be responsible for administering the financial award.

Section 2: Project Summary


Guidance:  
This summary must clearly and simply describe the entire proposal. You should avoid unnecessary jargon, abbreviations and technical terms wherever possible. If you must use them, provide a clear explanation.

We use this summary to describe your application to a variety of audiences, including reviewers and Panel members (which can include clinicians and researchers who do not have specialist knowledge of your field, patients, members of the public, policy makers and the media). We will also use this summary to describe your application, if funded, through our communication channels and on 360Giving. 

Further guidance on writing a lay summary and other useful resources can be found through the INVOLVE 'Make it Clear' campaign.

Section 3a: Project Details

Provide an outline of your proposed project.


The outline should cover the following areas (see guidance for more details): 

  1. Need for the change
  2. Objectives
  3. Project Plan 
  4. Evaluation, impact & future plans 
Guidance for each section is provided below and is intended to help you understand what information the Grants Committee and other assessors typically look for in a successful application to this scheme. 

As this is a preliminary application, we appreciate that you might not be able to address all the guidance points that this stage. However, we expect you to be able to include the information in the full application, should you be invited to the next review stage. 

Ensure this section is fully referenced. Unreferenced applications will be returned for amendment. References can include, for example, data sources, clinical guidelines 
publications, books and NICE guidance. For advice and guidance regarding referencing, please see this resource.

Word limit: 2000 

Guidance

Please structure this section following the headings above.  


Your application will be read by a range of people including experts in the field as well as  individuals who may not know the context of your proposal in detail. Please write the project outline with this in mind. 


The reference list, figures and any other supporting information must be uploaded as attachments.  


1. Need for change 

Clearly describe and evidence the problem that your project aims to address, including details of the causal factors that you have identified.


The problem statement should be informed by proportionate and meaningful involvement of potential beneficiaries and stakeholders (e.g. patients/patient groups/community groups/Barts Health staff). Details of any involvement activities must be provided in the Patient and Public Involvement question (see page 6)


You should include discussion of alternative approaches which have been considered, and why the proposed option(s) was chosen. 


You should include, as appropriate:

  • Evidence that demonstrates the need for change. This might include, for example, local data, patient and staff feedback and/or research articles. If your proposal cites local Barts Health/NHS data, you should include details of the source dataset, including, for example: the date accessed, date range covered and the number of patients included. See more details about the referencing requirements in the attachments section.
  • Details of any preliminary or scoping work you (or others) have done to understand the problem, its causes and how it can be addressed. 

2. Objectives 


Clearly state what this proposal aims to change/achieve (the intended outcomes) by the time it is completed. 


Your objectives should be linked to/address the causal factors of the problem identified above and align with the evaluation plan described below. 


3. Project plan  


Provide a description of the project activities you will undertake that will allow you to address the need identified and allow you to achieve the intended outcomes. 

 Your outline should explain why the planned approach is the most appropriate and convince the reviewers that it is likely to be successful and lead to a lasting, positive impact. 

The project plan should include, as appropriate:

  • A description of the action(s) you will take to achieve each objective
  • A description of how patient, public and/or staff involvement has informed the design of the solution and how you plan to involve these groups during the project.
  • Details of the project team, outlining who will lead and deliver each of the project activities.
  • Details of how the project will be governed and monitored.
  • Details of the resouces, partnerships and/or organisational support which will be required for project success.
  • Description of key project risks and any expected challenges, and how you will mitigate them.
  • Timeline for the project, including key milestones (can be included as an attachment)

4. Impact, Evaluation and Future Plans  


Outline how you will evaluate each of the objectives of the proposal. For each outcome, describe the level of change which would be considered a success and the timeframe in which you expect to see it. Explain how this will benefit patients and staff and lead to lasting, positive change.


You should include, as appropriate:

  • A description of which patient group(s) will benefit from each objective of the project 
  • Details of how (and how quickly) the benefit for patients will be realised 
  • A plan for how you will evaluate each objective, including the data you will gather, data sources, the extent of the anticipated change, and who will be responsible for completing the analysis. 
  • Your plans to ensure that the project leads to lasting positive change and/or be maintained beyond the life of this potential grant. This might include scaling the project, disseminating the outputs for wider adoption, and the details of potential future funding sources



Upload a list of the sources cited in the Project Outline above. This might include NICE clinical guidelines, Cochrane reviews, guidelines from major professional bodies or Royal Colleges, advice from expert groups, other charities or research papers. For academic research papers, include all authors, the full title of each publication, journal title, year, volume and pages. For citations to preprints, state Preprint, the repository name and the article persistent identifier (for example DOI). 

Figures, timelines, schema, preliminary data and other supporting information. This document is not included in the word counts of the Project Outline. This document must not exceed 2 A4 pages. If the document exceeds the limits, we will return the application to you so that you can reduce its length.  

You must obtain letters of support for your application from relevant clinical and operational leads at your hospital site. Upload these as a single file here.

Section 3b: Additional questions 

Case for Charitable Support

Guidance: 
1. Please refer to the scheme webpage and our Healthcare Grant Cost Policy for details of what this scheme can and cannot support. 
2. Include details of whether this or a similar application or business case has recently been considered by another organisation. If your application for funding was unsuccessful, outline the reasons for this decision and any changes you have made to this proposal.
Patient and public involvement and engagement
Guidance: As a local funder, effective involvement and engagement of patients and the public in the work we fund is very important to us.  

Patients and the public ideally should be involved in every stage of a project, from developing a proposal through to delivery, evaluation and dissemination. 

In this section, please outline your approach to the involvement and engagement of patients and public in all stages of the project, including: 
  • Who will be involved and why?
  • Why your approach to patient and public involvement is appropriate for this project? 
Costs related to involvement can be funded by this grant and should be detailed in the finance section of this application form. 

More information and guidance around involving individuals in work to advance healthcare delivery has been developed by the NHS Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC), a group who are committed to introducing proven innovations into clinical practice more rapidly. Please review the AAC patient and public involvement strategy, which incorporates the guiding principles laid out in the NHS England guidance on patient and public participation in commissioning health and care.

 We recommend reviewing this document before submitting your application.  

Section 4: Applicants

Guidance: The project team consists of a Lead Applicant and up to four Co-Applicants.


The Lead Applicant will be the main contact throughout the application and review process, and if the award is successful, will be responsible for grant administration and reporting. 

See the scheme page on our website for details of eligibility criteria for the applicant team.











Please use your professional email address.










Guidance: We encourage applications from individuals who have taken career breaks. We want to ensure that any such breaks are taken into account when we consider your track record. We are not asking for the reasons for this break so please do not provide these here, including sharing any sensitive personal health information.


Any disruption to your usual work caused by the coronavirus pandemic should be included here.




Guidance: ‘Outputs’ in this context refers to knowledge and materials generated. This may include (but is not limited to): 
  • Changes/improvements to clinical service pathways or delivery
  • Training materials
  • Peer-reviewed publications and preprints
  • Datasets or software
  • Inventions, patents and commercial activity.

Section 4: Co-Applicants


Guidance: The project team consists of a Lead Applicant and up to four co-applicants.


The Lead Applicant will be the main contact for the application and award, if successful, and is responsible for grant administration and reporting.

See the scheme page on our website for details of eligibility criteria for the applicant team.
Co-Applicant details











Please use your professional email address.










Guidance: We encourage applications from individuals who have taken career breaks. We want to ensure that any such breaks are taken into account when we consider your track record. We are not asking for the reasons for this break so please do not provide these here, including sharing any sensitive personal health information.

Any disruption to your usual work caused by the coronavirus pandemic should be included here.




Guidance: ‘Outputs’ in this context refers to knowledge and materials generated . This may include (but is not limited to):
• Changes/improvements to clinical service pathways or delivery
• Training materials
• Peer-reviewed publications and preprints
• Datasets or software 
• Inventions, patents and commercial activity.
Use the 'add another response' button to add details for another Co-Applicant.

Section 4: Collaborators



Guidance: Collaborators may contribute additional expertise, access to resources, materials, access to technology or similar to support the project. The named collaborators may be replaced with suitable alternatives, should it be necessary or appropriate to do so.

Section 5: Project Finances

Guidance:

  • We will only fund the direct costs of the project (i.e. costs that are explicitly identifiable as arising from the grant activities). 
  • All requested costs must be justified in the context of the project. 
  • You must obtain cost estimates from your Finance Office. 
  • All costs requested must be in line with Barts Charity's Healthcare Grant Cost Policy
  • We expect that the majority of the project’s costs will be incurred in Barts Health NHS Trust. We will consider providing funds to other collaborating organisations on a case-by-case basis. Where agreed by the Charity, this collaboration will need to be managed by the host organisation as a sub-contract.



Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Staff
Materials and Consumables
Equipment
Public and Patient  Involvement and Engagement
Estates
Dissemination
Other

Guidance: Provide a brief description of the costs requested from Barts Charity, using the budget headings above to structure your answer.

 

Further details regarding allowed/disallowed costs is available in Barts Charity’s Healthcare Grant Cost Policy.

 

The following information should be included for specific budget headings:


Staff

List all staff posts requested, including job title and justification for the level of salary support (i.e., band level).


Materials and Consumables  

List all non-reusable items required for the project, including any clinical items if relevant, or costs required for survey and data collection. 


Equipment

List all items of equipment required for the project.


Public and Patient Involvement and Engagement 

You may request funds to support Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement activities.  


Estates 

You must ensure that all relevant costs have been fully accounted for. This includes but is not limited to construction, professional and project associated fees, excluding planning costs. 


Publications/Dissemination  

You may request funding for publication fees, including open access charges, as well as costs required to present and share the outputs and findings from this work.  

Section 6: Related Applications




Section 7: Approvals


(i) Which internal groups/boards/committees have approved your proposal? This might include Hospital Executive Board, for example.

(ii) Which groups still need to give approval of your application?

Specify here if your planned project will involve the introduction of a New Interventional Procedure. If so, your proposal must have been approved by the Barts Health Clinical Effectiveness Committee before it can be considered for a final funding decision by Barts Charity.
Guidance: Barts Charity may share your application with key stakeholders within Barts Health as a part of our due diligence and to confirm that the necessary internal approvals have been received or will be before a final funding decision is made. 

Diversity Monitoring


Barts Charity is committed to ensuring that our decision-making processes are fair and free from bias. We ask that all applicants complete a short diversity questionnaire to allow us to monitor our progress against these aims.

Data collected will be held separately to your application and cannot be accessed by anyone involved with processing or assessing your application.

Each applicant will receive an email with further details and instructions on completing this survey shortly after the application is submitted. If an applicant has provided this data in the last two years, we will not ask them again. They may however request a form to update or remove this data but contacting funding@bartscharity.org.uk.

Submission and next steps


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