Health grants for organisations

Organisation

The Elfrida Society

Cloudesley grant

2024 – £105,000 (£35,000 per year for three years) from the Principal Grants Fund
2023 – £10,000 from the Small Grants Fund
2021 – £10,000 from the Small Grants Fund

About the Organisation

The Elfrida Society supports people with learning disabilities and neurodiversity (LDND) to have happy and independent lives. The three main strands of their work are: Advocacy, including specialist 1:1 peer support and self-advocacy; consultation services that involve two user-led groups engaging in quality assurance monitoring of local provision and engaging people with learning disabilities and professionals to address problems; and community-led sports activities, including football, tennis, fitness and cricket. Elfrida involves people with LDND in the design of their services and 70% of Elfrida’s staff have LDND lived experience.

Project Funded

The grant supports Elfrida’s Healthcare Access and Resilience Project. This includes:

• Self-advocacy training and workshops designed to support individuals with LDND to manage their health independently. The workshops cover a range of topics such as diabetes management, healthy eating, oral care, crisis and care planning and end of life considerations.
• 1:1 Specialist Advocacy for individuals navigating healthcare settings, ensuring they have access to the healthcare support they require and the accessible information they need to make informed choices.
• Healthcare Hospital Liaison Support: collaborating with Learning Disability Nurses and healthcare professionals to address issues with a lack of access to Learning Disability Nurses and issues with hospital discharges.
• Partnerships and collaboration – strengthening partnerships with healthcare providers and LDND service providers to improve service accessibility, enhance health outcomes and share best practice to create long-lasting change for individuals with LDND in the borough.

Impact of Project

Individuals with LDND face significant health disparities such as a significantly shorter life expectancy and a higher Covid death rate. The project aims to tackle these inequalities, enabling individuals to take control of their health. The work with healthcare providers aims to foster a more equitable healthcare environment and improve access to healthcare. The individuals that the project supports face multiple disadvantages, with all being disabled, most being from low-income backgrounds and many having co-morbidities and mental health challenges. It is hoped that as a result of this project, they will be better able to independently manage their health. The project works to reduce barriers to healthcare and enable timely, appropriate care for individuals with LDND.

What the group says

Learning disability Lead Nurses at UCLH – “Congratulation to Elfrida on your award and support services! DB in particular has been providing bespoke advocacy empowering and providing a voice for some our most vulnerable patient with an LD.”

“Thank you for attending my last appointment. I have seen Doctors have made changes how they get to see me. They are seeing me face to face now, rather than over the phone. They also are making easy to read. Once again. Thank you for helping me with my appointment, I really appreciate it. This would not done without your help and support.”

“My advocate was kind and made me understand what doctors were saying to me. The easy read versions she made me helped me take control of decisions for my medication”.

“Advocacy was not something I knew existed until recently. Now I feel happy going to the doctor as I know I have someone with me to stop me feeling nervous”.

The Cloudesley perspective – why did this project gain support?

The project strongly aligns with the aims of Cloudesley’s Health Grants programme as it directly works to reduce health inequality experienced by people with LDND, who find it harder to access and navigate the healthcare system. Elfrida proposed a well-rounded, comprehensive programme to address this issue, both working with people with LDND directly and working with healthcare professionals to improve their understanding of learning disabilities. Elfrida are a well-established organisation that empowers people with LDND to help shape the services that they receive, employing them to monitor services offered by the Council, among other roles. Their approach of supporting users to advocate for themselves in the first instance, before offering more direct involvement where necessary, ensures there is a lasting impact.