BTFN High Impact Type 2 Diabetes Interventions Grant Programme

Grant scheme for nurse-led interventions focused on reducing the prevalence and effects of type 2 diabetes.

Established in 2002, the Burdett Trust for Nursing (BTFN) is an independent charitable trust that allocates grants to support the nursing contribution to healthcare.

BTFN’s High Impact Type 2 Diabetes Interventions Grant Programme seeks to fund interventions focused on the prevention, treatment and management of diabetes. The Trust has launched a new funding strategy focused on reducing death and the impact of longer-term disability related to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). As a result of this, from 2022 for a period of five years, the Trust will run a series of grant programmes targeting one of the four main categories of NCDs. This is the second grant programme in the series.

Despite being highly preventable, NCDs kill over 40 million people each year; this is the equivalent of 71% of all deaths globally. Diabetes is a leading cause of mortality globally. 90% of people with the condition have type 2 diabetes and it is increasing in epidemic proportions. This is despite major public health campaigns informed by evidence-based interventions, which have proven to disrupt the progression from normoglycaemia, through prediabetes to type 2 diabetes.

The Trust believes that nurses have a central role to play in reducing the prevalence and effects of type 2 diabetes. Nurses are well placed to encourage people with diabetes to engage in self-management of their glucose levels and dietary regimes through patient-centred customised interventions. They are often the first point of contact and play a crucial role in screening, maintaining and supporting people to prevent or to live with the condition.

Research indicates that when compared to medical practitioner-led diabetes interventions, those that are nurse-led are more effective at improving glycaemic control and reducing diabetes distress, particularly for patients at high risk and with poor control.

Funding through this scheme will therefore support innovative, nurse-led initiatives that will decrease hospitalisation and reduce morbidity and mortality in patients with diabetes. All projects must be nurse-led and have the nursing contribution to healthcare at their core.

Proposals must be well-argued and demonstrate why the project is needed and the benefits and impacts it will deliver. The application must also describe how the project will generate learning that can be shared, disseminated and adopted more widely. Applications for projects with a significant educational element will be required to demonstrate evidence of a strong service-academic partnership.

All successful grant holders will be expected to take part in a half-day conference in central London to share their learning and publicise the outcomes of this programme.