The social enterprise has conducted more than 1m healthcare appointments across Northern England in the last 10 years.
The leader of social enterprise, Spectrum Community Health CIC will use the organisation’s tenth anniversary to outline a series of new campaigns and initiatives.
Spectrum’s CEO, Dr Linda Harris OBE says the projects will help continue to drive its collaborative approach to generating social impact as the pandemic has brought a sharper focus on health inequalities seen across communities.
The work Spectrum undertakes is often complex and challenging. They’re driven by their mission to tackle health inequality by supporting the most vulnerable in society, by leading on outreach and prevention, which helps to reduce future pressure in the healthcare system, and by enhancing the care experience for patients in complex settings.
Spectrum, one of the first health social enterprises to spin out of the NHS as part of a new approach to the delivery of community health care ten years ago, is a social enterprise that delivers a range of community and health and justice services on behalf of the NHS, Local Authorities and other partners.
It employs a range of experienced health professionals including GPs, nurses, and pharmacists to ensure high quality care with a values-based ethos, is provided to a range of environments within the Wakefield District, Cheshire, North West, North Yorkshire, and North East England.
Dr Harris will remotely address the organisation’s 800 employees across the North of England in a digital event dubbed ‘Linda Live’. The company will restate its mission to improve the health and wellbeing of some of society’s seldom heard, extending Spectrum’s reach of social impact, working with partners and commissioners as the population emerges from lockdown.
She will launch Spectrum’s Festival of Leadership and Learning, a series of ten free virtual learning events featuring a diverse and inspiring line up of top thought leaders speaking on cutting edge topics that relate strongly to the current challenges in health and care.
The organisation also has a pledge to support and donate to its tenth-year charity, Cancer Research UK, with a range of incentives across its regional offices and the 38 sites it delivers community projects in.
Dr Harris said: “The demand for work to focus these improvements on the people who need it the most has never been more important. Whether that’s poverty, lack of social mobility, discrimination or unconscious bias, Spectrum fights for equivalent care across the board.”
In the past ten years, the not-for-profit community interest company has conducted more than one million healthcare appointments across the country. It has helped some of the most vulnerable people in society with a diverse suite of support for those suffering with a wide range of health issues, including substance misuse and sexual health matters. Spectrum also delivers high quality care in transforming a growing number of the UK’s prisons.
Dr Harris said: “While this is a great moment to pause, reflect, and look back with pride on all our achievements over the last ten years, we are also determined to look forward with a sense of ambition and a mission to help even more in our communities.
“Over the past 12 months our amazing staff have risen to every challenge you can imagine and have always placed the patient at the centre of everything whilst continuing to successfully deliver all of our programmes with respect and compassion. From all this, including the unforeseen challenges of a global pandemic, we emerge strong, wiser, and even more determined to broaden our ability to support those most in need.”
Over the past decade, Spectrum, which was one of the first health social enterprises spinning out of the NHS, has helped over 360,000 individuals. In that time, it has been shortlisted for over 50 national healthcare awards, winning 21, and expanded its portfolio of services into sexual health, health and justice, and wellbeing. Most recently it has successfully partnered to deliver one of the country’s COVID 19 community vaccination centres.
About Spectrum Community Health CIC
Spectrum Community Health CIC is a social enterprise that delivers a range of community and offender healthcare services on behalf of the NHS, Local Authority Public Health services and other partners. We employ a range of experienced health professionals including GPs, nurses and pharmacists to ensure we deliver high quality services across a range of environments.
Spectrum delivers enhanced primary care services within the Wakefield District, Cheshire, North Yorkshire, and North East England, including:
- Integrated substance misuse services (drugs and alcohol) in the Wakefield District, North Yorkshire (under North Yorkshire Horizons), the City of York, Durham and South Tyneside
- Healthcare within secure environments (including prisons and immigration removal centres across the North of England)
- Integrated sexual health services (including relationship and sex education) for Wigan & Leigh District, Barnsley District and Wakefield District
- Health and wellbeing for vulnerable groups and people with complex needs
- Key delivery partner for Wakefield WY-FI (West Yorkshire Finding Independence), helping people with complex needs in the Wakefield District
- Death in Custody reviews for the North of England
- Key partner in the delivery of the national vaccination programme
As a social enterprise, we are a clinically led and employee-led company, which ploughs any surpluses back into initiatives and projects that improve public health and wellbeing. This enables us to work flexibly, innovatively and respond to the needs of local communities and deliver care that is personalised and effective.
Within the Spectrum family of organisations are:
- Spectrum People – a Wakefield-based charity providing support to vulnerable people who are experiencing a range of issues and are socially excluded from the community. www.spectrumpeople.org.uk
- Spectrum Learn & Develop Ltd – a training organisation aimed at providing healthcare-related courses, training and development sessions. https://sld.spectrumhealth.org.uk/
- Transform Research Alliance – In 2016, Spectrum became the host for the charity: Transform Research Alliance (TRA), an alliance of 11 social enterprise healthcare organisations (providing NHS-funded care across England), whose aim is to improve research and governance within the social enterprise sector. https://spectrumhealth.org.uk/transform-research-alliance/