First-rate care, First-rate people, First-rate value

First Community Health and Care listed as a UK Top 50 employee owned company

Published on Friday 26 June 2020

First Community Health and Care listed as a UK Top 50 employee owned company

At First Community Health and Care we are delighted to be a new entrant in the top 50 employee owned companies announced today 26th June  – Employee Ownership (EO) Day.

First Community Health and Care provide NHS health and care services including district nursing, rehabilitation and a range of therapies to children and adults across east Surrey and West Sussex.

Sarah Billiald, CEO said “Our priority is local delivery to our communities of excellent NHS health and care services – we are so pleased that this top 50 status allows us to add financial standing and productivity to our CQC "Outstanding" status and fantastic NHS staff survey results where 75% of our staff would recommend First Community as a place to work (63% national average).

We believe that being an employee owned organisation is absolutely key to the engagement of our workforce, the quality of our care provision, and our financial strength.”

Over 75% of our employees are a “shareholder” in a one member one share model that reinvests any surplus in services to improve the health of the community we serve.  We operate within strict budgeting and accountability measures to deliver value for money, bespoke care, focused on the health of the service user.   86% of staff (annual NHS staff survey) said the care of patients/service users is the organisations top priority.   97% of people who have used our services would recommend them to family and friends, according to our Family and Friends test.  Our values: first rate care; first rate value, and; first rate people underpin everything we do. 

Julie Sinclair and Rachel Buckenham,  co-chairs of our council of governors, which provides the lifeblood of our employee owned status added, ‘Working for an employee owned social enterprise like First Community means that we have always had value (in every sense of the word) at the heart of everything we do. We are thrilled that our company has been recognised in the EO top 50.’