Established in Hull
City Health Care Partnership CIC (CHCP) is a growing, co-owned ‘for better profit’ business providing health and care services across Hull, the East Riding of Yorkshire, North and North East Lincolnshire, and Knowsley in Merseyside.
It’s one of several businesses that spun out of the NHS in 2010. The aim was for employees to drive better services and impacts for the communities in which they operate.
Since then, CHCP has evolved into one of Britain’s largest co-owned companies.
CIC Employee Ownership
CHCP is a socially motivated company with a diverse portfolio of businesses with all its profits invested back into services, staff, and the community. As a registered charity, it’s able to offer small community grants to support staff or contribute to the health and wellbeing of local residents.
A CIC is a special type of limited company which exists to benefit the community rather than private shareholders.
Employee ownership (EO) is different for CICs, but providing employees a stake and a stay remains the key aspect – while employees do not share in profit, their motivation usually comes having a voice in make services more impactful for patients and supporting the surrounding the community. At CHCP, all permanent staff have the opportunity to purchase a £1 share.
Shareholders are represented by colleagues on the shareholder forum, with the chance to feed in their views and comments on how the business and its services are run.
EO Approach
In August 2013, the staff shareholder scheme was re-launched under the ‘It’s everybody’s business’ banner. The aim was to bring the importance of CHCP’s status as a co-owned mutual business to the attention of all staff, encouraging them to become shareholders.
By being a shareholder, staff have a meaningful stake and a say in the company. Numbers have steadily increased and, at present, 62% of staff are now shareholders.
Events, regular communications, and incentivising ideas with prize draws encourage employees to have a voice in the running of the business and its services.
As well as being represented via the shareholder forum, shareholders can attend the Annual General Meeting (AGM) each year and apply to sit on the executive board, the community partnership forum, and to be trustees of the CHCP Foundation.
All key stakeholders have reported great impacts arising from regular roadshows and communication that supports shareholders to share their insights.
Staff surveys show that:
- 87% of staff were aware of CHCP CIC’s mission, vision, and values
- 80% say they would recommend CHCP as a place to work
- 91% would recommend CHCP to friends and family as place to receive health and care services
Reflections and Impacts
CHCP has given £180,000 in small grants and staff sponsorship, contributing substantially to the health and wellbeing of local residents.
The culture of engagement and collaborative working that stems from being co-owned was also reflected in a patient survey. Since 2010, there’s been a 14% increase in those who rated their care and support as excellent. More recently, the survey found that 98% of respondents had trust and confidence in the person they saw.
As Joanne Scholes of CHCP says: “Our dedicated, enthusiastic, and skilled workforce is vital to the success of our organisation and to providing the best possible service to our patients. As one of the largest employers in Hull, we are proud to be bringing prosperity to our region and to the new areas of our business, Knowsley, and Lincolnshire.”