A Social Enterprise to run health services?

On Thursday night at Full Council Greens gave a welcome to the move to look at Social Enterprise to run local Health and Social Care services.

In the face of repeated threatened cuts to our local services we need to explore the alternatives. As I've said before we cannot let Weavers Croft close - and at the moment there is still a chance - the decision rests with the Secretary of State. If that fails Social Enterprise looks the best option at moment - but we need to move carefully: Social Enterprises require more sophisticated management skills than the average private businesses and we would also need to see proposals being supported by local health professionals.

There is much political hype around Social Enterprises - indeed all parties now view them as having almost magical properties. It has become, almost overnight, one of the key hopes that will reform public service - a mix of business methods and social idealism. Indeed they do provide many opportunities and I welcome the Council's commitment to explore this option further. Local people have demonstrated clearly they want to see local health services - this is one route that may mean we can keep them, but far better would be proper investment in our NHS to continue to run them. It is wrong to open up this sector to companies to make profits that should be invested in services. Greens are the only main political party to support the national campaign backed by health professionals to Keep Our NHS public. See my most recent letter to press re health cuts.

Health services are regarded as one of the most likely markets for social enterprise, but as Richard Lewis of the King's Fund has pointed out, purchaser haste to introduce competition into the health service, coupled with an underdeveloped, under-supported social enterprise sector, may see for-profit private enterprise "sweep into primary and community care unchallenged".

What is a social enterprise? The DTI’s ‘Social Enterprise - a strategy for success DTI, 2004’ describes a social enterprise as: "A social enterprise is a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners. Social enterprises are diverse. They include local community enterprises, social firms, mutual organizations such as co-operatives and large scale organizations operating nationally or internationally. There is no single legal model for social enterprise. They include companies limited by guarantee, industrial and provident societies and companies limited by shares; some organisations are unincorporated and others are registered charities.”

How does a social enterprise operate financially? “A social enterprise is a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners. Delivering high quality public services is a key goal of government. Social enterprises’ combination of enterprise, social purpose and customer focus makes them an effective method of delivering improved public services. They can balance the needs of public service staff and users without being driven by the requirement to maximise profit for external shareholders.”