BrisDoc Healthcare Services

Social Impact Statements

The Social Enterprise Mark criteria includes a requirement that the applicant can demonstrate that social and/or environmental objectives are being achieved.

In support of this, new applicants and renewing Mark holders are asked to respond to a set of social impact questions, which are designed to help them think about the social impact they create, and to articulate this clearly and succinctly.

Updated May 2021

1) What are the main social differences you have aimed to make (or supported)?

BrisDoc provides healthcare services for the NHS.

Established in 2021, BrisDoc provides urgent care to a population of 1 million, across urban, rural and deprived areas in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG). The urgent care service operates 24/7, providing telephone and online access (NHS111), a telephone clinical assessment service, community based clinics offering consultations and a home visiting service.
In addition we provide services for the most vulnerable groups in our community serving citizens who may be homeless; sex-workers; asylum seekers; addictions; and ethnic groups through three inner-city practices.

Our aim is to reduce healthcare inequalities and provide safe and effective care to our community 24/7, meeting the standards expected by the NHS and delivering all services free at the point of contact to citizens within BNSS.

We work closely with a Patient Reference Group and other community groups (e.g. Healthwatch) to engage with service users and understand the effectiveness of our services, including quality of care and accessibility. We strive to understand the inequalities (working with Public Health and Health and Wellbeing Boards) and to “level-up” care provided.

As an organisation we are committed to being an equal opportunities employer and focus on being representative of the community we service through the equality and diversity of our workforce, which is drawn from the local community. We measure ourselves against the Gender Pay Gap and Living Wage benchmark. We are investing more in apprenticeships to create more employment opportunities and career development.

We are concerned about the environment and our impact. We are based in Bristol which is committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2030 and are becoming more engaged in opportunities and actions with the City to progress our own aspirations to be net zero long before the 2030 target.

A key aspect strand of our social commitment is our Community Fund (for social investment). This is operated by staff members with a remit to invest in community projects that support health and wellbeing. The Fund works closely with VCSE sector and invests both funds and workforce volunteers to support many charities which are serving the most vulnerable in our community.

The lasting impact we seek is to be an excellent NHS healthcare provider serving our community; to be an employer of choice, embracing diversity, career development and fair pay; to play our part in the community working with like-minded organisations to reduce inequality and improve health and wellbeing; and to minimise our environmental impact, achieving carbon neutrality within three years and hopefully a net benefit to the environment beyond this.

2) What actions have you taken to deliver the aims described above?

• Healthcare services – include NHS111 – free telephone and online access to healthcare advice for our community, backed-up by expert advice from GPs, Nurse Practitioners; Paramedics; Pharmacists; and Mental Health practitioners. Our practices work closely with Social Prescribers and Drug and Addiction specialist; Social Care; Community leaders; Faith Groups; Schools; and more.
• Community projects – the development of a new healthcare facility in Kampala, Uganda; refurbishment of homes in Bristol to provide accommodation for otherwise homeless families/individuals; refurbishment of a community centre/kitchen in Weston Super Mare that serves local community; funding for Grief Encounter providing therapy for children of bereaved families; staff funding for Beloved, supporting sex workers in the City; investing in Bridges for Communities, helping with the integration of asylum seekers in our community.
• Environmental projects – switching to milk bottles, local supply and organic rather than plastic/supermarket; recycling at each location; using recycled materials where possible; switching to renewable energy supply; investing in hybrid vehicles to reduce carbon emissions (hopefully introducing first all electric vehicle to fleet this summer); cycle to work scheme available to all staff; increased use of telephone and video consultations (photos) to minimise consultation travel needs; plan to enable more flexible and home working to reduce travel requirements; plan to establish and Environmental Board engaging with staff and external expertise.

3) What has changed, what specific outcomes and benefits have been realised as a result of the above actions?

BrisDoc serves in patient nearly every minute; through NHS111, over 300,000 patient calls; through telephone advice lines and clinics over 100,000 consultations; and via our practice based and walk in services, circa 200,000 patient care episodes.

Patient satisfaction has been consistently high and CQC rate our services as good or outstanding Brisdoc Healthcare Services Limited (cqc.org.uk)

Our community has enjoyed safe and reliable access to healthcare 24/7… all services have been effectively maintained during the pandemic, keeping both patients and staff safe.

VCSE sector has benefitted from our collaboration and investment… this has helped many people in the community… new homes; new facilities; health centre build; over £0.5m invested .

4) Please describe how your income and/or any profits generated from previous years has been maximised in delivering social outputs and adding social value.

Up until March 2021, BrisDoc has been a private shareholder company with shares owned by the workforce and no restriction on how funds are used/asset lock. However, the majority of annual surplus has been retained within BrisDoc to fund growth and development of healthcare services and a Community Fund equivalent to 10% of annual profits has been in place for many years. However, whilst our purpose is very much socially focused, our governing documents have not met the criteria for a social enterprise.

With effect from 30th March 2021, all shares have been purchased by an Employee Trust with specific commitments on distribution of any surplus (minimum 51% for social purposes) and an asset lock in the event BrisDoc ceases trading (100% of any remaining assets for social purposes) written into the Trust Deed. Consequently, we believe this now enables us to be recognised as Social Enterprise and will formally govern how future profits are utilised.