Annual Report Incorporating Abbreviated Audited Annual Accounts
FYE 30 June 2020 Directors’ Report ..................................................................................................................................... 2 Subsidiary Companies Report ................................................................................................................. 6 Section Successes/Highlights Reports ..................................................................................................... 7 Finance Report followed by Abbreviated Audited Annual Accounts ................................................... 10
British Healthcare Trades Association (BHTA), Office 404, Tower Bridge Business Centre, 46-48 East Smithfield, London, E1W 1AW Tel: 020 7702 2141 | E-mail: info@bhta.com| www.bhta.com A Company Limited by Guarantee – Registered in England No: 154121 – VAT Registration No: 702845545
Directors’ Report Introduction The Association finished its financial year in the same extraordinary position as the rest of the UK, in full lockdown due to the COVID pandemic. The impact of disruption on ourselves and our members has become a defining feature of the current landscape in which we all operate. Along with BREXIT and continuing issues around government policy, (such as on NHS procurement), these are some of the challenges facing the Association and its members going forward. But this report is focused on the year gone past, ending 30th June 2020.
Staffing at the Association We were pleased to be joined on 2nd March by Dr Simon Festing as our new Chief Executive Officer. Two of our Board directors - Andrew Stevenson and Andrew Barker, had kindly stepped in during the interim as part-time Director General and Commercial Director respectively. This enabled us to maintain business as usual, including our standing with external stakeholders and our commercial activity. We wish to thank them both. Alex Hanrahan left her post as Membership Engagement Manager at the end of May 2020, and we wish her well in her new endeavours. The Association terminated its contract with the Director of Communications, Chris Rennard, in order to review this area of work and seek other avenues of influence. Chris kindly keeps in touch and continues to be a source of timely information and insights. Despite substantial effort, the Association was not able to bring in additional funding for the work of the National Federation of Shopmobility UK, which had been slipping into deficit, largely due to cuts from local authority funding to its members. Unfortunately, this led to the departure of Donna Eade as Shopmobility Coordinator, who left us at the end of the year on the grounds of redundancy.
Governance During the year, Alastair Maxwell came to the end of his tenure as Chairman and the Council approved his appointment as President, with Andrew Stevenson moving into the role of Chairman. We would like to thank all of the individuals who give their time and effort to make the Association work, whether that be as Directors in the Board, or as Section Chairs or Vice-Chairs (and so on Council as well). The Association held a successful Council meeting in December 2019. Unfortunately, the next meeting which was scheduled for March 2020 had to be postponed as we were going into lockdown.
Operations Office relocation: the COVID pandemic accelerated our resolve to get a grip on the challenges of running two offices. This resulted in the closure of both those offices (the Loom in London, and the Wellingborough office), and our relocation into a smaller 4-workstation serviced office near Tower Bridge, London. This new office does have meeting rooms available for hire if need be. The flexible arrangements suit the Association for now, and we will save significant sums of money whilst we are in any case mostly working at home (due to continuing COVID -related restrictions).
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In March 2020 the Board of Directors agreed to investigate a new membership database (CRM) for the Association, which should hopefully allow us to provide a better service to members at lowercost in the long run. However, that is likely to mean a significant financial commitment for the following year.
Financial report The Association had a reasonable financial performance for the year overall. Income at £908,249 was a little over £14k higher than the previous year (at £893,983). This was despite not holding an Annual Awards Dinner, which would have increased both income and expenditure, as well as a shortfall on other income (below budget due in particular to lower than expected insurance commission income). Most of the income for the Association derives from membership subscriptions, and we achieved a renewal rate of 88% for the year, which is typical. New member income (to compensate for the leavers) is increasingly difficult to come by, but we nonetheless put in a little over £50k of such income. On the expenditure side, overheads costs were under both budget and less than the previous year. A lot of this occurred in the 4th quarter due to furloughing of staff (reducing staff costs by £9.5k) and travel costs being £18k below budget due to national lockdown. This was despite significant costs for office relocation and moving out dilapidations (around £22k in total). Code expenditure was also reduced through the lockdown period, with no audits or arbitration cases. Engage, however, had a mixed year, with a difficult fourth quarter due to significant loss of income through lockdown, without commensurate cuts in expenditure possible (one member of staff on furlough). Engage income was below budget but higher than last year, principally from THIIS magazine, plus unbudgeted income (£30k) from Closerstill for cancelled Trade Days show. Otherwise new initiatives did not progress or meet budgeted expectations, yet direct costs were below budget due to the initatives not being carried out. Nonetheless, overheads were below budget due to Job Retention scheme income of £3.4k and slightly lower than budgeted website costs Overall the consolidated outcome is an encouraging surplus of £53k (against a budget of £27k and a deficit last year of £45k). We ended up with a strong cash position, partly due to taking advantage of the government allowing deferment of Q3 VAT payment until March 2021 (at £22k), and partly due to the Q4 surplus.
Policy and Parliamentary For the first three quarters of the year much of our policy work was focussed on BREXIT, informing members of what actions they should be taking, whatever the outcome. We sent regular emails to members to inform them of advice received from government departments, to update them of the current position re export/import controls and stock holding, and to ensure they are prepared for all scenarios. During the course of the year the Association brand training related to tenders and procurement. This was extremely well received and provoked discussion of deficiencies in the tendering process, which led to setting up of a working group of Council members to progress ideas for potential reform of the process. For obvious reasons, once the pandemic reached the UK, all of our efforts and resources were directed towards assisting our member companies with information and support. This turned out to be a massive effort, and we would like to thank the staff involved for all their hard work, made more difficult, of course, by the disruption facing ourselves, just like everyone else.
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Code and Compliance The pandemic had a marked effect on our activity relating to the Code of Practice, with audits and mystery shopping postponed due to lockdown. The number of consumer complaints was also below our normal levels, with just 38 received during the year, of which 30 had been resolved at year end: •
37% compromise was mediated
•
23% we found for the consumer
•
27% we informed the consumer they did not have a case
•
13% the consumer withdrew or ceased communicating with us
We also advised on a further 45 potential cases which did not result in formal complaint to the Association. There was no consistent theme to the consumer complaints, which ranged from whether items were fit for a particular stated purpose, to protests about call-out charges, whether faults were inherent or due to customer misuse, and to delays with parts and noisy motors. Two retailer complaints were received about delays in delivery of parts and in both cases the manufacturers expedited delivery and apologised directly to the retailers’ customers. The Independent Arbitrator adjudicated on a case brought by 1st Choice Mobility against Assistive Partner regarding delivery of contract, resulting in a refund to 1st Choice Mobility of £7,500.
Events Unfortunately, due to the pandemic we had to postpone the planned afternoon tea at the Houses of Parliament, as well as the Annual Awards Dinner. However, the golf day was successful, as below. Golf Day 4th September 2019 Foxhills Surrey 60 players competed for the Phil Isherwood Trophy with Phil Rishworth of Stiltz being the overall winner. The teams enjoyed the event, and we are planning on returning to Foxhills on 8th September 2021.
Marketing and Communications, plus Campaigns Publications, including Get wise leaflets Below is a list of publications produced during the year, most of which were linked to work with the Sections, and include our flagship Get Wise (GW) leaflets: First Aid Section: launched GW to Travel and Motoring First Aid Kits, GW to First Aid Kits in the workplace, Papers on - Suggested performance specification for Defibrillator cabinets and Considerations in purchasing a Defibrillator. Children’s Section: GW prepared a child for an assessment for equipment or adaptions and Paper – Equipment and adaptions for disabled children in England (in partnership with Newlife Charity) Stairlift Section: GW to buying a Stairlift (Updated publication to reflect current legislation) PIPS Forum: (Patient Industry Professionals Forum) Paper - Updated of Collaborative Standard Drugs Tariff: Paper – Maintaining the Drug Tariff Committee for the supply of appliances ERD: Paper – Electronic Repeat Dispensing (eRD)
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BHTA Bulletin: Issue 56 was issued in February 2020 Exhibition attendance PMG (Posture & Mobility Group) Telford 15th – 17th July 2019 Rise 4 Disability Maidstone 25th September 2019 BHTA Scottish Conference Edinburgh – 21st January 2021 Due to Covid-19 the events and exhibition programme in the first half of 2020 was cancelled, with all being re-scheduled into 2021.
Other initiatives BHTA New Website June 2020: The most significant impact on the marketing department was the design of a totally new website to include Mobility Retailer, Member and Product Search facilities. Designed to offer members an improved resource. Covid-19: One of the main challenges of the pandemic has been the vast amount of information produced by the government departments, that has impacted the team. Digesting and providing this to members via TAB and the website to help them separate the most relevant information relating to their business sector. Return of Community Equipment: Working in collaboration with the Independent Community Equipment Providers we ran email, website and radio campaigns to assist in the return of equipment back to providers to be reissued to clear discharging of patients from hospital. Members Support wheelchair services: BHTA brought together some of the major wheelchair service providers to ensure continuity of service while NHS services were under pressure. This ensured vulnerable customers were able to access service and maintenance of their mobility products.
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Subsidiary Companies Report BHTA Engage Total revenue for the year increased against the previous year despite going into lockdown in the final quarter. Advertising revenue has been improving due to the appointment of an experienced media sales person in the previous year. Throughout the year THIIS website continued to hit new monthly records for the number of users, sessions and page views, with website traffic up 99% against previous year – at 150k users. In 2019 CloserStill Media confirmed that they were cancelling the Trade Days show due to declining numbers (exhibitors, visitors and hence profitability). This was done outside of the agreed contractual terms (60 days’ notice from the end of the last show) thereby triggering a penalty payment to BHTA Engage which was received in December 2019 and attributed to this year’s accounts. For AT Today, website traffic hit new records for the period across users, sessions and pageviews traffic up 33% against previous year - 43k users. And for the AT Today magazine, this was printed in Q3 but the Q4 issue cancelled due to coronavirus and closure of events/conferences, leading to a change in distribution strategy going forward. Development started on multiple new projects for FY20/21 delivery •
Building AT Today mailing list of assistive tech practitioners
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British Healthcare Trade Show joint venture
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THIIS Connect - subscription-based online trade directory
Healthcare and Assistive Technology Society (HATs) During the 2019/20 year the Society and its competency register has remained on hold due to financial constraints and because of changes within the secretariat. We plan to review the future of HATS at some point in 2021.
National Federation of Shopmobility UK This was another challenging year for Shopmobility schemes with continued reductions in funding in many local authority areas resulting in cut backs and in some cases closures of schemes. Shopmobility nonetheless produced a small surplus for the year primarily due to the saving on wages in the final quarter from the furlough scheme. During the financial year the decision was taken to process redundancy for the one member of staff devoted to the Federation, the Coordinator. And the Association came to the conclusion that ownership of the Federation no longer aligns with our core activities and we have sought an external third party to purchase the assets of the Federation as an on-going concern (Nb - this has been effected in the 2020-21 financial year).
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Section Successes/Highlights Reports Provided by members of Council
Scotland Group successes/highlights •
Member survey to ensure BHTA are aligned to members requirements
•
January 2020 BHTA Scotland Conference
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Engagement with NSQIG steering group
•
Ongoing collaboration with NP and Scottish Government
•
Engagement and ongoing contact with Edinburgh Integrated Joint Board
•
Agreement on new meeting formats for the various sections
•
Continued influence through SSF membership
•
Parliamentary questions using MSP advocates
Stoma and Continence Manufacturers Section •
BHTA Took on the role of the Drug Tariff Committee secretariat for next three years
•
Drug Tariff position paper updated and signed off by the DT Committee
•
Two new members bringing total members up to 26 which now includes Laryngectomy members
•
Agreement to run dedicated section meetings (Separate from DAC Section)
•
Ongoing COVID 19 support during the Pandemic
•
Working group set up to prepare for any possible Part IX Review
•
50-60% member attendance at section meetings
Dispensing Appliance Contractors Section •
Agreement to run dedicated section meetings (Separate from Manufacturers Section)
•
Ongoing COVID 19 support during the Pandemic
•
Working group set up to prepare for any possible Part IX Review
•
60% member attendance at section meetings
•
Strong external engagement with NHSE/NHS Digital/NHSBSA
•
Collaboration with other trade associations on a new DAC Code of conduct
•
Set up an Expert Panel to create a new Holistic Clinical Appliance Review to ensure members are focusing on the needs of the patient
Children’s Section •
The Equipment or adaptations ‘what the law says paper’
•
Get wise ‘preparing children for an assessment’ BHTA leaflet/guide
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•
COVID and moving to online and distance demonstrations and assessments with vulnerable and shielded clients
Beds and Support •
A successful Information Day at Wellingborough on the 25th February
•
Standards Day attended by section members.
•
3 of our mattress section members working with the US S3i standards mirror group.
•
Acceptance and use of the easy to read What Lies Beneath leaflet.
•
Articles published in BHTA’s THIIS magazine have been very informative and positive.
Mobility section •
Transference from face to face to virtual meetings for the section has been a success.
•
The information flow to members has been a benefit, especially regarding health and safety advice, specifically regarding COVID-19.
•
Links to external bodies like the NHS, have been crucial during this time.
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Other crucial information and virtual events have been welcome, including the support and advice for MDR and Brexit planning.
Infection control and decontamination •
Discussions with NHS Wales on the difficulties of sterilising equipment used to operate on those with JCD.
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Publicity around the issues in using motorised hand dryers as opposed to hand towels.
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Managing the introduction of MDR, and how this differs from a distributor or a manufacturer.
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Supply of adequate and correct PPE during crisis time.
First Aid Medical Equipment and Defibrillator Group •
Tough year for this section with the challenges of COVID-19 PPE Supplies. A massive thank you to all industry members for their commitment and hard work to manufacturing and supply.
•
Thanks go to Reliance Medical for supporting the BHTA with the HMRC Plastic Tax meetings to challenge the products that tax will be charged against. Great support and expertise shared.
•
Presence has taken place at the First Aid Quality Partnership (FAQP). The BHTA were invited to represent the section to sit on the forum to support First Aid Medical Training activities in the industry. This has enabled updates to be heard first hand as such as knowing the HSE extended training course certificates due to COVID, permitting those that were due to renewing to not be exempt.
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The success of two Get Wise Leaflets printed, one being 'Purchasing a Defibrillator' and 'Minimum Specification for a Defibrillator Cabinet', both papers have been well received by
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the Resuscitation Council. The section Chair thanks those who were involved in drafting the documents and giving value time.
Orthotics and Prosthetics •
The industry faced huge challenges in delivering essential clinical care and consumables as some clinic sites were closed, patient numbers initially rapidly declined, and then having to reinstate clinics came with even more challenges with social distancing rules, PPE requirements and large regional variance for providers to navigate.
•
Government recommended Trusts support industry (PPN) as did NHS England, however this was recommended not mandated, so not all Trusts adopted the 1/12 average payment recommendation, which put pressure on some suppliers specifically around cash flow.
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Suppliers used various methods to mitigate the financial impact, some used the furloughing scheme to help support themselves, others quickly adopted new ways of working developing virtual clinics, BHTA members came together to work collaboratively sharing experiences, ideas and wrote collectively to NHS England to explain the challenges the sector was facing and the support we believed was required short, medium and long term. A formal letter was drafted and sent to various key stakeholders.
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Section/member’s needs and top priorities for the Association to focus have been discussed and included: Recovery strategies, promoting new ways of working post Covid-19, helping all members by supporting changes to pre covid-19 practices long term.
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Challenges remain but most suppliers have seen good levels of recovery and will have embedded new ways of working into current and future ways of working.
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Thanks goes to all those who have supported the section giving up at times their own personal time.
Stairlifts and Access •
At July meeting a Presentation was well received from Disable Facility Grants - Paul Smith. PS Covered current financial budgets across authorities and how it had been impacted by the COVID crisis.
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Code of Practice has been worked on throughout the sector ensuring staff understand what the code is about and how to use it. Training has taken place in some businesses to raise the awareness.
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Obsolete Selling has been challenged and members discussed how they can set an agreement between members to manage this going forward. A working group will be called to develop a paper to run alongside the BHTA Code of Practice.
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Finance Report followed by Abbreviated Audited Annual Accounts
Profit & loss account Income for the financial year ending June 2020 was £908,249 (2019: £893,983) and administration expenses reduced to £864,884 (2019: £922,994). After interest received of £617 and taxation on a surplus of £8,357 the result was a surplus after tax of £35,625 (2019: loss of £22,885). Against the previous financial year BHTA income was up by 1.5%. Within this, renewal subscription income (~90% of total income) was up 5.5%, whereas new member income was down 42%, and other income was down 50% due to lower insurance commission revenue and not holding an annual dinner. Membership renewal was 88% for the year but subscription income increased because membership fees were increased. Overall expenditure decreased by 6%, the main variances came in the final quarter and were due to: •
furloughing of staff reducing staff costs by £9.5k
•
travel/meeting costs being £18k below budget
Balance sheet •
Fixed assets increased due to the capitalization of costs relating to the new website.
•
Trade debtors increased to £305,497 (2019: 275,557), though this reflects the fact that many of our members pay by monthly direct debit instalments.
•
Other debtors consist of accrued income and prepayments.
•
Creditors increased slightly to 281,313 (2019: 264,811).
•
The movement in the bank balance is largely due to the surplus for the year.
BHTA group position (£) BHTA surplus after tax
35,625
BHTA Engage surplus after tax
13,856
National Federation of Shopmobility surplus Group surplus
4,697 £54,178
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BRITISH HEALTHCARE TRADES ASSOCIATION STATEMENT OF INCOME AND RETAINED EARNINGS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2020
Notes Income Administrative expenses
2020 £ 908,249 (864,884)
Operating surplus/(deficit)
43,365
Interest receivable and similar income
617
2019 £ 893,983 (922,994) (29,011) 758
Surplus/(deficit) before taxation
43,982
(28,253)
Tax on surplus/(deficit)
(8,357)
5,368
Surplus/(deficit) for the financial year
35,625
(22,885)
Retained earnings brought forward
298,170
321,055
Retained earnings carried forward
333,795
298,170
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BRITISH HEALTHCARE TRADES ASSOCIATION BALANCE SHEET AS AT 30 JUNE 2020 2020 Notes Fixed assets Tangible assets Investments
Current assets Debtors Cash at bank and in hand
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
£
3 4
5
6
2019 £
£
£
12,362 2
11,503 2
12,364
11,505
383,597 219,147
382,290 169,186
602,744
551,476
(281,313)
(264,811)
Net current assets
321,431
286,665
Total assets less current liabilities
333,795
298,170
Reserves Income and expenditure account
333,795
298,170
These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime. The financial statements were approved by the board of directors and authorised for issue on 22 October 2020 and are signed on its behalf by:
S Festing Director Company Registration No. 00154121
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