The Martlets Hospice opened in April 1997. It was formed by the merger of three smaller charities operating in Brighton & Hove at that time. This merger of finances, staff and services was the first of many organisational challenges that the Martlets has successfully undertaken, including:
The merger of Coppercliff Hospice, Tarner Home and Day Hospice Company
The establishment of the Martlets Hospice in 1997 was particularly challenging, as it meant that the staff of Coppercliff and Tarner were merged - and the Martlets Team created out of the merger, as well as the recruitment of new staff. The Day Hospice Company was still in its infancy - and had not started providing any services.
For two years an intensive period of team building, development & training and staff support was undertaken. The management team created for the new Hospice was a mixture of merged and newly appointed staff. Intensive training of the management team was undertaken by the CEO to establish the required competencies and skills that the new Hospice required. The organisational design and structure of the Martlets Hospice was created from scratch and a flat, non-hierarchical structure was deliberately applied and has remained in place ever since.
The Martlets also had to promote itself to a public who had great fondness and affection for Coppercliff and Tarner - but had not heard of the Martlets. A whole programme of brand awareness events and activities was undertaken and a fundraising team created. After three years of extremely hard work, it was gratifying to note concrete and tangible signs of recognition and awareness of the Hospice in the local community.
The Martlets signed up to ‘Investors in People’ at an early stage and enjoyed three successive and encouraging re-validations. The Martlets was also chosen as ‘Best Local Charity’ in the first ever Argus achievement awards.
2. Turnaround of the failing Sussex Beacon Charity
The Trustees of the Sussex Beacon, a care centre for men and women with HIV/AIDS and related illnesses, approached the Martlets in 2007 with a special request. The organisation had suffered serious financial set-backs as well as losing most of its senior team, and was on course for closure. The Trustees asked if the Martlets would help to try and rescue the situation or consider a merger with the Sussex Beacon.
It was agreed that the Martlets would second a temporary Senior Management Team under the leadership of the Martlets CEO to provide leadership and a thorough review of all their business and clinical activities. This arrangement took place over a twelve-month period. The Martlets team effectively carried out a turnaround of the operation and achieved a rebalancing of their financial situation. The team also appointed key posts within the Sussex Beacon structure including a General Manager in order to ensure competent leadership for the immediate future.
A thorough review was undertaken of finances, the HR processes, catering, fundraising and trading activities. Cost savings and cost efficiencies were identified, many changes implemented and a strategy constructed to guide the organisation through the next period of growth. The Martlets team worked extensively with the Managers and Team Leaders at the Sussex Beacon as well as with the Board and Stakeholders of the organisation.
The outcome of this management consultancy was very positive and the Beacon remains to this day in a relatively healthy position.
3. Establishing a Social Enterprise
Responding to the need to find a robust income stream for the Hospice, the Martlets set up and established Martlets Care in November 2007. Martlets Care is a social enterprise and returns all its profits to the Martlets Hospice. As a commercial business Martlets Care delivers quality domiciliary care to patients within the community of Brighton and Hove. Martlets Care works closely with the PCT, social services and takes referrals from individuals directly or other health care providers (such as Sussex Community Trust, BSUH Trust and the Hospice itself).
Martlets Care is establishing a reputation for consistently high quality care and is helping to raise the standard of the Domiciliary Care Industry.
4. Martlets Consultancy Services
The whole concept of Martlets Care as a social enterprise that provides income to the Martlets Hospice has attracted much attention from other Hospices. The autumn of 2010 saw the launch of Martlets Consultancy, a commercial business which provides advisory and implementation services to Hospices which may wish to set up something similar. The remit of the Consultancy is adapting to respond to the needs of clients. At present over thirty Hospices have contacted the Consultancy for introductory presentations and several have commissioned specific pieces of work, such as market research or one-off training days. The Consultancy vehicle is sufficiently flexible so that the Martlets could add in other types of service as and when they are identified.
5. Welfare Benefits Service
This is a four way partnership between three charities and one Health Trust to provide a Welfare Benefits Service using volunteers.
It had been identified that there was a huge need amongst patients with serious illnesses for help and assistance with filling out forms and obtaining grants and funding due to them. This is an innovative collaborative project between Age Concern, Macmillan, the Martlets Hospice and Sussex Community Trust (NHS) designed to address this issue. The project is using the expertise of Age Concern in terms of training volunteers in delivering welfare advice; the expertise of the Martlets Hospice in recruiting, managing and supporting volunteers; the funding provided by Macmillan and the professional support provided by the Sussex Community Trust.
The project will run over three years, at which time a fully trained and competent team of volunteers will be delivering welfare benefit advice and support to patients at home or in the Hospice. The ongoing support of this voluntary team will remain the joint responsibility of the Martlets Hospice and Age Concern.