VCSE Inreach Project
We are pleased to announce a new funding opportunity from South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) for local grassroots voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations (VCSEs), to deliver evening and weekend activities on our acute adult mental health inpatient wards in Croydon and Lewisham.
What is the project?
The VCSE Inreach Project is an opportunity for local VCSEs to have a positive impact on our wards and build meaningful connections with our service users by delivering structured activities over a 12-month period in one, or more, of our wards in Bethlem Royal Hospital and University Hospital Lewisham. This includes two Older Adult wards, where we will be looking for dementia-friendly organisations to provide tailored activities for our service users.
Successful applicants will be awarded £12,250 of funding for each ward they work on, with the opportunity to apply to up to three wards. For more information, please download the Service Specification for Croydon and Lewisham.
Service specification and application forms
Croydon
- Service Specification - VCSE Inreach Project - Croydon
- Application form for Croydon is available via MS Forms: Application Form — SLaM VCSE Inreach Project (Croydon)
Lewisham
- Service Specification - VCSE Inreach Project - Lewisham
- Application form for Lewisham is available via MS Forms: Application Form – SLaM VCSE Inreach Project (Lewisham)
The deadline for applications is 12th January 2026 at 8:00am.
Further information and support
For further information or if you need the application form in a different format, please reach out to our Community Partnerships Officer, Hannah Tendler, via VCSE.Inreach@slam.nhs.uk
We will be launching applications for Lambeth and Southwark early next year.
This project is co-funded by Maudsley Charity and NHS England Inpatient Quality Transformation Programme.
Will there be outdoor space with an opportunity to offer activities in the garden?
Access to the garden varies per ward and will need to be risk assessed and supervised for each activity session. With this in mind, we will be unable to accept applications where activities require consistent access to the gardens, however we encourage providers and ward staff to work together to find opportunities to run occasional activities in the garden where appropriate.
FAQs
What timings should providers be on the wards?
Each activity provision should take between 1-2 hours including set up, packing up and handovers. Activities must run outside of protected times for meals and medicine on the wards. Approximate timings for evening activities are 19:00-21:00. Approximate timings for weekend activities include 10:00-12:00, 14:00-17:00 and 19:00-21:00. Timings may vary from ward to ward.
What is the definition of a VCSE? What is the definition of a grassroots organisation?
A VCSE is a Voluntary, Community and/or Social Enterprise organisation. Grassroots organisations are locally based, community-led groups that emerge from the interests and needs of community members themselves. They operate on a bottom-up basis, prioritising local participation and decision-making, as opposed to national or externally driven structures.
Can individuals apply for this funding?
Unfortunately not. We are only able to accept applications from organisations, due to certain thresholds in terms of safeguarding policies, absence cover etc.
When are activities scheduled to start on the wards?
For Lewisham and Croydon, activities are scheduled to start in May 2026.
Can VCSEs run 1-2-1 sessions with service users on the wards?
We are looking for group activities that engage as many people on the ward as possible. In terms of safeguarding and risk, we are expecting providers to host their activities in communal spaces, with higher levels of staff supervision. As the provider gets more familiar with the ward environment and staff, it may be possible to run activities for smaller groups in the smaller, closed activity rooms on the wards where appropriate. However, we would not expect providers to work with service users on a 1-2-1 basis.
What is the age range of service users?
On most of our wards, service users are 18-65. We have also included Older Adult wards in this project, which serve individuals who are 65+, or under 65 and living with dementia. For our Older Adult wards, we are looking for applicants who have experience providing dementia-friendly activities.
Can I apply for up to three awards?
It is possible to apply for funding to run activities on up to three wards. There is no guarantee of receiving funding for multiple wards.
We don’t have activities currently running in the community, but we can signpost SU to activities in the community. Can I still apply?
Unfortunately not, as one of the key objectives for this project is to support long-term recovery after service users are discharged from inpatient wards. A core requirement of the funding is that service users can engage with similar activities with the VCSE provider in their local community, after leaving inpatient care. This is designed to bridge the gap between inpatient services and the local community. As a result, organisations that are not running activities in the community will not be able to apply for the funding.
I’m not sure how to allocate the funding across the 12 months, should I still apply?
We encourage all interested applicants to submit an application outlining what they are able to offer within the funding available. The application asks for a brief outline as to how you would plan to spend the funds over the 12-month period, not a detailed budget. Please write to VCSE.Inreach@slam.nhs.uk if you have any questions.
