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Reads the latest news from the Martlets Care community
Care pays off for local hospice
Three years ago, with funding becoming harder and harder to maintain, Martlets Hospice took a bold step into social enterprise. It decided to use its expertise to create a new domiciliary care service for the community of Brighton & Hove.
“We had two main objects for the Martlets Care project,” says Imelda, Head of Service Development at Martlets Hospice. “Firstly to raise the standards of care in our community and secondly to raise funds to support the hospice.”
Martlets Hospice plays a vital role in helping people to live life as fully as they can, right up until the end, via expert clinical care. They ensure that wherever possible, peace, respect and calm remain – it’s a very simple and very human ethos. This ethos extends right into the community.
In 2010, Martlets Care provided over 50,000 hours of care with every penny of profit being paid back to the hospice.
“Our objectives have been met and exceeded,” says Imelda. “We have a highly successful social enterprise providing a valuable service to our community and supporting our hospice work, it is truly amazing to be involved in this fantastic project.”
Social enterprises are businesses that concentrate on providing social and/or environmental benefit as well as making a profit. Martlets Care provides not only great care but in addition is able to show how the profit it generates can help people and their families in the hospice.
“The main difference is that profit is not our first thought. We concentrate on the care we provide to the client,” says Imelda. “This allows us to focus on a high-quality service which is vital to our clients.”
For Martlets Care this is what drives it forwards and has created the success it is today. The knowledge that money goes back to support the Martlets Hospice and not into an individual or shareholder's pocket is seen as a very unique difference.
“It’s what makes our carers and our clients come to us and stay with us,” Says Hayley, Care Coordinator at Martlets Care.
Martlets Care plans on extending the amount of care it provides by taking on more and more new clients. We want people to contact us and experience the difference for themselves as well as to see the benefit that their money provides to the hospice.