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Social Enterprises in Health and Social Care - What Are They?
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Social enterprises are businesses that trade for a social or environmental purpose. They have been around for a long time however their entrance into the health and social care sector is relatively new. Perhaps one of the most well known examples in UK is The Big Issue whose overriding purpose is to address the problems of homelessness and directly support the homeless to help themselves.
Many private businesses consider that they have social objectives whereas social enterprises are different because social or environmental goals are central to what they do and how they do it. It is estimated that there are over 55,000 social enterprises in the UK with an approximate combined turnover equating to 1% of GDP.
Ownership of Social Enterprises
One of the key differentiating characteristics of social enterprises is ownership. While most private businesses are owned by shareholders, social enterprises can be owned by:
- users or customers
- employees
- the wider community
- trustees
- public bodies, or
- a combination of these different groups.
Organisation
Many social enterprises in the health and social care sector are partnerships with organisations from other sectors such as voluntary and community groups - or 'third sector organisations'. The reasoning behind such relationships is that third sector organisations often have better relations with patient and staff groups and expert knowledge in specific areas or types of care
Advantages
In the health and social care sector social enterprises seek to involve patients and staff in the design and delivery of services. The involvement of patients and staff in the design and delivery of services gives patients more control over their healthcare as wells as helping to improve quality and tailor services to match patient needs more closely.
Therefore, social enterprises are seen as a key foundation for delivering the Department of Health's patient-led reform agenda. Their use is intended to provide patients and users with greater choice from a wider selection of convenient, innovative and responsive service providers.
Since social enterprises are not-for-profit organisations they re-invest any surpluses into the improvement, enhancement and extension of the services they deliver or elsewhere in the community. Thus, social enterprises often provide benefits to the wider community as well as to those that use their services.
The social enterprise model of service delivery in health and social care is also expected to deliver services in a more flexible and less bureaucratic manner than traditional delivery models. Indeed the localisation of the social enterprise model enables services to be tailored to the needs of the local population and hence contributes to improvements in the health and well being of the whole local community.
Since members of staff have a stake in the social enterprise experience, the level of commitment to the delivery of high quality services is enhanced and the satisfaction is often reflected in lower staff turnover.
Conclusion
Social enterprises are an exciting option, in particular with respect to the introduction and expansion of pluralism of service provision within the public health and social care sector. The core principles of social enterprises trading for social and environmental purposes help to tailor services to more closely reflect the needs of patients and the local community.
Ask the Experts
Oakleigh Consultants have extensive healthcare experience in particular with respect to the organisation and delivery of health and social care services. In addition, we have a growing experience of supporting and advising the setting up of new organisations including social enterprises and community ventures both directly and though partnerships.
If you have any questions about the subjects covered in this white paper or you would like to find out more about how Oakleigh Consulting could help your organisation, please contact us on 0161 835 4100 or email us.
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