Less than eighteen months ago, Dawn Hewitt, Chief Executive of CHUMS (child bereavement, trauma and emotional well-being service) and her small team embarked on the exciting and challenging journey to spin out of the NHS and become a social enterprise.
The 31 December deadline for health and social care staff to submit an expression of interest under the Department of Health’s right to provide scheme is fast approaching. Dawn took time out of her busy schedule to share her experiences and offer her advice to anyone who may be considering submitting an application, focussing on the challenge of gaining the support of colleagues and directors.
“As a child bereavement and trauma service, we didn’t naturally fit into the NHS, and although our funding stream was always secure, we were constrained in the way the service could develop. With the changes taking place within the NHS, I wanted to try and provide security for my team and the children we help.
So I researched the topic and also sought advice from the Department of Health’s social enterprise team. The more I read, the more I became convinced it was the right thing to do.
It was a daunting prospect, and a lot of hard work, but I was 100 per cent committed to the vision to ensure that the service would be around for many years to come.
The challenge of gaining your directors’ and Board’s support
If you are thinking about applying to become a social enterprise, these are my top tips for success:
1. If you are clear about your vision for your service; why, and the benefits to patients and your staff, and your team is behind you, then you are half way there!
2. A first step, discuss your vision with your immediate line manager, explain the potential benefits to patients and your staff. Get them to really listen to you. I found having the support of my line manager incredibly helpful, as she actively encouraged me.
3. Have the courage to arrange to meet your chief executive and chair informally and share your vision – before you have submitted your expression of interest – to allow them to time to start considering your proposal.
4. Once you have submitted your expression of interest and have gained initial support from your board, make sure that you apply for funding from the Social Enterprise Investment Fund.
We submitted our EOI the end of September, then applied for funding and by the start of November, I had a specialist consultant to support me through the whole application process. I couldn’t have done it without him! He helped me to write and develop our business plan, consider all the different things you need to think about when you run a business, like finance, as well as coaching me to present to our board – which as a nurse is something I haven’t ever done before!
5. Give directors the opportunity to find out more information and ask questions as you continue to prepare your business plan – rather than just submitting a finished plan and asking them to consider it.
I offered to give a presentation to the board, so they could gain a better understanding of why and what we were trying to achieve. We also held a information evening for the community services board, where we shared our vision for the future. We gave a short presentation and service users were also there to share their stories.
6. Find one person in your trust and/or community service organisation to champion your cause – don’t give up! They will help you to persuade other people that your vision and business model is a sound one. We dealt with four different people which ended up being very confusing, as they didn’t talk to each other and in some cases also left us out of the loop.
7. Developing a sound and robust business plan is crucial. If you demonstrate that you have a sustainable plan, it will be harder for the board to say no.
8. Tap into the advice and experience of other healthcare social enterprises, which were set up under the Department’s Right to Request scheme – we have all been through the process and come out the other side. We all have lots of advice and learning to share.
9. Keep focussing on the end goal and remember that other people, like me, have succeeded. Remember that you have the right to provide!
New beginnings
CHUMS has only been operating as an independent provider of child bereavement and trauma services since 1 June 2011, but we have already successfully bid for two new contracts, which means that our team will double in size to 22, by the end of December. One is to provide an emotional well-being service for children and young people in Bedfordshire and the other is working with a local hospice to provide pre-natal and post-natal death services for parents and their families. We would have potentially bid for these services, whilst we were part of the NHS, but it would have more challenging. I also knew that the commissioners were keen to appoint an independent provider.
Another exciting development, is that we have recruited more volunteers to help support our clinical work, rising from 100 to 120 in the New Year. We will also continue to support our future healthcare workers, and will have two undergraduate students working with us on placements from December.
Lastly, we have had a charitable arm to the service for a number of years, but now as a social enterprise, we have also decided to expand this area of our business, to raise more funds and expand our services into neighbouring areas.
I can’t wait to see what happens next!”.