IC24 : Social Impact Report

Integrated Care 24 (IC24) is a health and social care social enterprise that has been providing support to people through the NHS since the early 1990’s. IC24 are members of SEUK, part of the Transform Research Alliance and hold the Social Enterprise Gold Mark, the latter of which relates to their transparency and accountability as an organisation. Improving IC24’s ability to measure and communicate its social impact is therefore a key element in enhancing this accountability and transparency and demonstrating to beneficiaries and stakeholders the value that a social enterprise health and social care provider can bring. Increased scrutiny of public spending (Prowle, Murphy and Prowle, 2014) has increased expectations by funders and commissioners on organisations to provide information on the social impact of funded and commissioned activities (Clifford and Hazenberg, 2015). Demonstrating value for money is pivotal, not only for securing future funding, but for demonstrating and understanding effective service delivery (ibid). Identifying social impact, allows organisations to constantly refine interventions and undertake evidence-based organisational development, which is critical for developing effective and sustainable services (Hazenberg, Seddon and Denny, 2014).

This social impact study identifies the areas in which IC24 are most successful in producing and measuring positive outcomes, whether that is in delivering telephone support or in the provision of the Roving GP service. These areas are outlined in the IC24 Theory of Change (ToC) (see Appendix A), developed through this research and based upon the IC24 existing ToC, as well as consultations with key stakeholders. Through reviewing and cross-examining existing quantitative data provided by IC24 with publicly available data (i.e. national NHS datasets where applicable) and the ToC, the Social Impact Matrix© was utilised to create a Social Impact Measurement Framework (SIMF). This allowed for the creation/identification of tools to collect missing data (for example, validated scales), identify attribution/deadweight/drop-off and best practice for frontline collection (for example, GECES ). It outlines key areas of impact associated with Support, Learning and Development; Roving GP; IC24 NHS111 and Non-Pathways Consultation Services (CAS/OOH).