The Amin Abdullah RCN Foundation Grant opens to commemorate World Suicide Prevention Day

Launched in 2022, The Amin Abdullah RCN Foundation Grant focuses on mental health and wellbeing of nurses.

Amin took his own life in 2016, following unfair dismissal from his job as a nurse at Charing Cross Hospital after coming to the support of a colleague who had been treated harshly by a patient.

The £15,000 grant programme will make annual awards of up to £1,000 over 15 years and has been made possible by generous donations from staff wellbeing campaigner Dr Narinder Kapur, Amin Abdullah's partner, Terry Skitmore, and Dr Nathan Illman, clinical psychologist, and founder of the Nurse Wellbeing Mission.

The award scheme is proudly supported by the British Indian Nurses Association.

Funding wellbeing, compassionate support, and patient safety

The award will provide financial support to nurse-led projects that focus on nurses' wellbeing, such as the strategies registered nurses use to compassionately support each other to maintain high standards of patient safety despite the challenges they may face to achieve this.

How to apply

Applications are open to registered nurses from across the UK and applicants do not have to be a member of the RCN to apply.

The grant is now closed and will reopen in September 2025.

Grant recipients

In 2022, the grant was awarded to support two projects - read more about them here.

Meet May

May, a senior lecturer at Canterbury Christ Church University, received an Amin Abdullah RCN Foundation Grant towards a study that investigated the effect of a multi-dimensional intervention programme on nursing students’ self-efficacy, engagement, and wellbeing.

Earlier this year, May won the RCN Foundation Amin Abdullah Impact Award for outstanding contribution to supporting nurses’ mental health and wellbeing. Watch more below:

May’s project improved the wellbeing of the participating nursing students and has also had an impact on current and future patients. Nursing students gained practical tools, theories, skills, and ideas from taking part in the project, which are transferrable to their nursing careers, ultimately benefiting patients under their care too.