Registered Charity Number: 1177939
BRISTOL HOSPITAL BROADCASTING SERVICE TRUSTEES’ REPORT & ACCOUNTS YEAR ENDED 31[ST] JANUARY 2022
Bristol Royal Infirmary Upper Maudlin Street Bristol BS2 8HW
Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service Trustees’ Report & Accounts 2022
| Contents | |
|---|---|
| Page | |
| Trustees’ Report | 2-7 |
| Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees | 8 |
| Receipts and Payments Account | 9 |
| Statement of Assets and Liabilities | 10-11 |
| Notes to the Accounts | 12 |
1
Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service Trustees’ Report & Accounts 2022
Trustees’ Report
The Trustees of Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service are pleased to present their Report and Accounts for the period 1[st] February 2021 to 31[st] January 2022.
Organisation
Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (‘CIO’) registered in England and Wales on 12[th] April 2018 and governed by a constitution signed on 16[th] December 2020.
The organisation is managed by the Charity Trustees who are elected by its membership.
Throughout the period the charity continued to operate with no paid staff, being run entirely by a dedicated group of volunteers.
Charitable Objects
Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service (‘BHBS’) has two objects:
-
“the relief of sickness, poor health and old age amongst people living in Bristol and the surrounding area by providing a local broadcasting service for hospitals, residential homes and similar institutions, and for patients receiving community care; and
-
“the advancement of health and prevention or relief of sickness for the public benefit through the promotion of the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle, and the importance of maintaining good personal mental and physical health by (mainly, but not exclusively) the means of broadcasting health education messages to people living in Bristol and the surrounding area.”
These objects are based on the model wording agreed between the Hospital Broadcasting Association (‘HBA’) and the Charity Commission.
BHBS currently provides a hospital radio service to patients at various hospital sites, via the bedside entertainment systems, and local care homes, sent electronically to be broadcast at a time determined by the care homes. Both are in furtherance of the charity’s first object.
The second of these objects allows BHBS to also target its services at the local population, not just those in hospitals and care homes, with the intent of helping and encouraging listeners to live a healthy and active life in the local community, and therefore potentially reducing the use of health services.
In managing the charity, the Trustees have, at all relevant times, had regard to the charity's charitable objects, and the Charity Commission's public benefit guidance (PB1, PB2 and PB3).
Review of Activities and Achievements
During the period BHBS, operating under the name ‘Hospital Radio for Bristol’, provided a hospital radio and ward visiting service to hospitals managed by University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (‘Hospital Trust’) in central Bristol. BHBS also recorded specific request programmes for Four Seasons Health Care, a provider of care homes, to be played to their residents.
As part of our core activities we transmit a variety of music programmes, along with local hospital news, comedy, drama, quizzes, interviews, health messages and more. Most of these programmes are pre-recorded and broadcast via our automated playout system. However, the highlight of the schedule is undoubtedly our live programmes. These include
2
Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service Trustees’ Report & Accounts 2022
request shows which air four-to-five nights a week and our sports output which has been at the heart of what we do since we started in 1952. Our volunteers visit the hospital wards to talk to the patients, tell them about our service, collect requests and dedications and generally provide a welcome distraction. On the sporting side, we cover all the home games of Bristol City Football Club, Bristol Rovers Football Club and Bristol Bears (Bristol Rugby Club). The Trustees thank the football clubs and the rugby club for allowing BHBS to broadcast these matches to the patients.
Until early 2016 we broadcast classical concerts from the Colston Hall, one of the city’s largest permanent music venues, but this has temporarily ceased whilst the hall is refurbished. We look forward to recommencing our coverage of the concert season from the, now renamed, Bristol Beacon when it is expected to reopen in late 2023.
The Trustees express their continued gratitude to the Hospital Trust for providing us with our studio space in the main Queen’s Building of the Bristol Royal Infirmary (‘BRI’) and the opportunity for us to offer our services to their patients. BHBS relies solely on the infrastructure provided by the Hospital Trust and another third party service provider to send the output from our studios to the multimedia bedside systems within the hospitals. However, this infrastructure may be upgraded or replaced in the near future and we are working with the Hospital Trust to ensure we feature prominently in their plans.
Since 2016 we have been undertaking the enormous task of fully equipping our studios using both existing and new broadcasting kit. We are pleased to report that during the period all areas of the studios became fully operational, plus we are now able to log our output for quality and training purposes. We thank our Chief Engineer, Rick Parsons, for his determination to complete this project.
We have also launched a new jingle package to give the radio service a fresh sound and we thank professional broadcaster Chris Serle for giving us his voice and Chris Wood for management and production.
Like many charities, we have been heavily impacted by the Covid 19 global pandemic which took hold at the end of March 2020 and since then we have had no access to hospital wards at all. The Trustees consider ward visiting to be a vitally important activity for our volunteers to undertake on a regular basis, however there remains great uncertainty over when we might be allowed to enter wards again. If access is denied long-term, the Trustees will make it a priority to formulate a plan, working with the Hospital Trust, to engage with patients via alternative means as this is critical if we are to serve our purpose.
The wellbeing of our members has been of upmost importance which is why we have ensured that only those who have met the Hospital Trust’s strict health and safety requirements have returned to the studio. At the same time, the Trustees completely support those members who have chosen not to return at this time.
We have continued to receive interest from potential volunteers, however with the Hospital Trust suspending their mandatory induction and training programme during the period we were only able to welcome one new individual who was already volunteering in the hospital.
Our financial management and reserves policies, along with the strict controls on expenditure, have minimised the impact of Covid 19 on our finances. However, having been unable to do so in the prior period, we were delighted to be able to hold our annual bucket collection at Tesco in December 2021. Unfortunately, Sainsbury’s was still not able to allow bucket collections, but we are in talks to return to their store in 2022.
Like last year, the 2021 Annual General Meeting (‘AGM’) was held remotely and was well attended by our members. We are very pleased to report that Andy Sloper, who has been a volunteer for BHBS since 2017, put himself forward to be a Trustee and he was duly elected
3
Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service Trustees’ Report & Accounts 2022
by the membership. Broadcaster Chris Serle also agreed to continue as our President and BHBS wishes to thank Chris for his invaluable ongoing support.
BHBS continues to try and adapt to a Covid world where we cannot directly promote our service to hospital patients. Prior to the Covid outbreak, we undertook regular ward audits to ascertain our potential audience and to report back any faults to Hospital Trust personnel. It was our intention to expand this further to document listening figures and listener feedback as there remains no other obvious way of establishing the number of patients who listen at any given time. With the roll out of the vaccination programme in 2021, we have seen light at the end of the tunnel and the Trustees continue to explore other ways to gather this information.
At the beginning of 2019, the Board of Trustees began the process of setting several goals for the charity to achieve over the next 1 – 3 years. These goals are intended to focus both the Trustees and the membership on raising the profile of the charity, improving radio and ward visiting activities and strengthening our governance. Altogether these goals have been designed to secure the long term direction of the charity and further its objects.
The immediate focus has been to enhance our profile, particularly within the hospital, and until March 2020 we had continued to regularly collect music requests on the wards. However, owing to the Covid-19 restrictions, ward visiting has had to cease and therefore we have been unable to meet our listeners or distribute our patients’ guide which has been a cause of huge frustration to us. However we do see opportunities arising as restrictions begin to ease, for example we now appear in the patient welcome pack, and we launched ‘In Focus’, a ‘Desert Island Discs’ style programme which puts hospital staff and volunteers in the spotlight.
We have pushed forward with our goal to be unique and local with an emphasis on health and wellbeing. We continue to broadcast more hospital related content within our evening news bulletins with a focus towards events happening within hospitals. We also broadcast almost 500 minutes of health and wellbeing messages throughout the day which equates to 4.77% of our output. We are hopeful that this will continue to increase over time.
The Trustees wish to bolster the board by appointing at least one new Trustee who is not currently a member of the charity to give us a fresh perspective. We had hoped that this might have been achieved by now, but with the interruptions caused by Covid we believe an active recruitment campaign may be needed.
One of our longer-term goals had been to broadcast to other care settings e.g. residential care homes, as part of our object to provide a local broadcasting service to residential homes and similar institutions. We took great strides last year when we started remotely recording a regular programme compiled of resident requests collected by staff at the Four Seasons Health Care residential homes. Following positive feedback, the next steps will involve broadcasting live online to these, and other, care homes in the future. Using new technology may also allow us to broadcast, once again, to the wards at Southmead Hospital, which was another goal we had set, and perhaps to other relevant locations. Broadcasting online, whilst providing us with huge potential opportunities, also comes with challenges and whilst this is something we continue to investigate and indeed acknowledge is the way forward, it does require careful considerations at every point along the way. Our initial priority will be to find out how many people are listening to our programmes for us to establish a base from which we can move onwards, and we look forward to working with our members, the Hospital Trust and other care settings to help us progress our plans.
Significant events after the end of the reporting period
At a meeting held on 22 March 2022 the Trustees agreed to co-opt Peter Newman as a Charity Trustee. In accordance with the Constitution, Peter will retire at the conclusion of our
4
Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service Trustees’ Report & Accounts 2022
next annual general meeting, however he will be eligible for reappointment by the membership.
Membership
There are four classes of membership, along with a probationary membership:
-
Full membership is granted to those volunteers that have met both the requirements of the Hospital Trust and BHBS and have paid the annual subscription fee.
-
Associate membership is offered to those who no longer wish to be actively involved in the service but would like to remain a member. A reduced fee applies.
-
Life membership is awarded to those members whose contribution to BHBS has been recognised by the Trustees as being substantial. No annual subscription payment is requested.
-
Honorary membership is awarded to persons who are not members of the service but have made either a one off, significant, or long term contribution to BHBS and/or they hold a specific honorary position within the charity e.g. President.
Both associate and honorary members are classed as non-voting members and do not qualify as members for any purpose under the Charities Acts, General Regulations or Dissolution Regulations.
During the period the annual membership subscription fee was £25 (2021: £25), however this was waived in the prior period due to members being unable to volunteer. The average number of qualifying members was 31 (2021: 31).
We are grateful for the many hours our volunteers have spent ward visiting, fundraising and programme making. Without this valuable contribution of time, energy and expertise we would not be able to achieve so much.
Acknowledgements
We would like to pay particular thanks to: The HBA for its advice and guidance throughout the period; Smile Publishing for our patients’ magazine and regular donations; John Malyckyj for covering our Bristol Rovers outside broadcast costs; and Laura Parslow for, once again, independently examining our accounts at no costs to ourselves.
Review of Financial Activities and Affairs
The financial position of BHBS remains satisfactory with the charity holding sufficient cash reserves at year end. The charity had unrestricted funds of £15,802, with income of £2,842 and expenditure of £3,969.
Receipts
Income is generated from several sources, however principally it comes from donations from individuals, companies and other organisations, and membership subscriptions. Receipts totalled £2,842 for the year (2020: £3,986).
Donations are unpredictable and often fluctuate from one year to the next.
Covid curtailed our fundraising in the prior period therefore being able to resume bucket collections, when restrictions were lifted, substantially increased fundraising income.
Gift Aid mainly derives from cash donations, received in prior periods, claimed via the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme, with the balance claimed through the main scheme on donations where we are in possession of a signed declaration. The inability to undertake collections and the waiving of membership subscriptions in the prior period has significantly impacted Gift Aid receipts in this period.
5
Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service Trustees’ Report & Accounts 2022
Membership subscriptions have returned to normal levels this year.
Bank interest and other receipts account for the remainder of our income.
Payments
A tight control has been maintained over expenditure during the period. Payments totalled £3,969 (2020: £8,153).
We were able to stabilise a lot of our costs with either a decrease or small increase in costs compared to the prior period.
During the year our greatest expense was repairs, renewals and equipment which can be split between two distinct categories; repairs and renewals of £545 and studio upgrade costs of £1,219.
Outside broadcast costs have only decreased due to timing differences. However, it is worth noting that costs would be greater if it were not for our sports commentator, John Malyckyj, who again generously covered the cost of the Bristol Rovers broadcast charges.
Financial Management and Reserves Policy
The charity has a Financial Management Policy which defines the controls to be implemented to ensure that the charity’s assets are secure. This policy meets all the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 and the Charity Commission guidelines “Internal Financial Controls for Charities” (CC8).
The charity has a Reserves Policy which sets out our free reserves, which are defined as non-designated unrestricted funds. There are a range of risks we face, including the risk of an unforeseen drop in income or unbudgeted increases in expenditure.
The policy sets out the framework we have in place to confirm the level of reserves we have determined is appropriate for our organisation and draws upon advice such as the Charity Commission’s CC19 guidance.
We have calculated an appropriate reserves range for our organisation of £10k to £15k which is broken down as:
| Reserves range | £k |
|---|---|
| Cost of unforeseen emergencies | 6.0 |
| Small contingency fund for unforeseen operational costs | 0.5 |
| All of our income streams temporarily cease | 3.5 |
| Minimum level | 10.0 |
| Range | 5.0 |
| Maximum level | 15.0 |
The target range is set at five thousand pounds above the minimum level.
The Board of Trustees consider that this target range provides sufficient flexibility in the context of operational requirements and for an organisation of our size and complexity.
At year end the charity had designated unrestricted funds of £7,015 and reserves of £8,787 with no restricted funds. Although this is below our target range, the Trustees are not overly concerned as our income in the prior year was substantially lower than originally expected as we were unable to hold fundraising events, and the Trustees decided to waive
6
Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service Trustees’ Report & Accounts 2022
membership subscriptions. Also, the Trustees have acknowledged that £2,689 could be reallocated from the Charity’s designated unrestricted funds back to reserves if required, as this expenditure is not critical to the future provision of our services. Further, with fundraising events having resumed with positive results and donations expected to be stronger next year, the Trustees remain confident that our reserves will return to the target range in the next 12-24 months. The Trustees believe the reserves position does not put the Charity at significant risk of failing to meet its objects during the next 12-24 months.
The Trustees have a duty to apply charitable funds within a reasonable period of time for the benefit of the people we serve therefore our reserves levels and balances held in designated funds are monitored as part of monthly financial reporting with regular reports provided to the Board of Trustees. The balances held in designated funds are reviewed to determine whether these funds are likely to be committed in the near future and the extent to which there is a continuing need identified for any particular designated fund(s). Any inactive funds will be closed and the funds transferred to reserves.
Charity Trustees
Chris Mountain Peter Newman (co-opted March 2022) Paul Popiel (reappointed May 2021) Dave Rawlings* Jon Rogers Andy Sloper (appointed May 2021) Chris Wood (reappointed May 2021)
*Chairman of the Board of Trustees
Charity Number
1177939
Principal Address
Bristol Royal Infirmary Upper Maudlin Street Bristol BS2 8HW
Independent Examiner
Mrs Laura Parslow ACA MAAT
Signed on behalf of the Trustees:
………………………………….. D J Rawlings Chairman
………………………………….. P M Popiel Secretary
29[th] May 2022 ……………………………… Date
29[th] May 2022
……………………………… Date
7
Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service Trustees’ Report & Accounts 2022
Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees
I report to the Trustees on my examination of the accounts for Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service for the year ended 31[st] January 2022.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the Charity's Trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).
I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner's statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
- accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act; or • the accounts did not accord with the accounting records
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
…………………………………..
Mrs L J Parslow ACA MAAT Independent Examiner
6[th] May 2022
………………………………
Date
8
Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service Trustees’ Report & Accounts 2022
Receipts and Payments Account for the Year Ended 31[st] January 2022
| Receipts Donations Fundraising Gift Aid Interest received Membership subscriptions Sale of surplus equipment Other receipts Payments Telephone and internet charges Outside broadcast costs Printing, postage and stationery Repairs, renewals and equipment Insurance Subscriptions, licences and website Health, safety and personal protective equipment Fundraising costs and fees Merchant and auction fees Trustees' meetings and AGM costs Net of Receipts / (Payments) Total Fund Brought Forward Total Fund Carried Forward |
Note 1 2 |
2022 Unrestricted Funds £ 800 1,369 119 2 550 - 2 |
2022 Unrestricted Funds £ 800 1,369 119 2 550 - 2 |
2021 Unrestricted Funds £ 1,465 54 1,327 51 - 1,083 6 |
2021 Unrestricted Funds £ 1,465 54 1,327 51 - 1,083 6 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,842 £ 609 120 103 1,764 511 628 8 83 (1) 144 |
3,986 £ 529 158 296 5,924 487 534 64 14 32 115 |
|||||
| 3,969 | 8,153 | |||||
| (1,127) | (4,167) | |||||
| 16,929 | 21,096 | |||||
| **15,802 ** | 16,929 |
9
Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service Trustees’ Report & Accounts 2022
Statement of Assets and Liabilities as at 31[st] January 2022
| Assets Lloyds - Treasurer's Account 1 Lloyds - Treasurer's Account 2 Lloyds - Savings Account Santander PayPal Liabilities Amounts falling due within one year 3 Net Assets Funds Restricted funds Unrestricted funds |
Note |
2022 £ 258 101 2,952 12,097 394 |
2021 £ 430 125 1,660 14,096 823 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15,802 - |
17,134 205 |
|||
| 15,802 | 16,929 | |||
| - 15,802 |
- 16,929 |
|||
| 15,802 | 16,929 |
The Trustees confirm, in accordance with the Charitable Incorporated Organisations (General) Regulations 2012, that at year end Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service did not have any outstanding guarantees to third parties nor any debts secured on its assets.
All funds held at year end are unrestricted and available to be applied in furtherance of Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service’s charitable objectives at the discretion of the Trustees.
Assets retained for Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service’s own use
-
Radio broadcast studio equipment, including mixers, CD players, turntables, etc;
-
Computerised audio playout systems;
-
Music library consisting of approx. 5,000 CDs, vinyl singles and LPs;
-
Outside Broadcast equipment, including mixers, speakers, CD players, radio mics and radio link equipment;
-
Audio editing software; and
-
Office facilities, including chairs, desks, PCs, printers etc.
10
Trustees’ Report & Accounts 2022
Signed on behalf of the Trustees:
………………………………….. D J Rawlings Chairman
………………………………….. J Rogers ATT(Fellow) FMAAT Treasurer
29[th] May 2022
……………………………… Date
29[th] May 2022
……………………………… Date
11
Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service Trustees’ Report & Accounts 2022
Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31[st] January 2022
| 1. Donations Bristol Brunel Probus Club via Mark Hoskins Dave Fox Four Seasons Healthcare Group In memory of Roger Morris Individuals and friends of BHBS KPMG Mark Hoskins Smile Publishing Ltd 2. Fundraising Bucket collections at Tesco, Brislington Everyclick Ltd - Give As You Live SmileAmazon 3. Liabilities: Amounts falling due within one year PPL - subscriptions, licences and website |
2022 £ 50 25 500 25 25 150 25 - |
2021 £ - - - 480 85 150 - 750 |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| 800 | 1,465 | ||
| 2022 £ 1,337 15 17 |
2021 £ - 54 - |
||
| 1,369 | 54 | ||
| 2022 £ - |
2021 £ 205 |
4. Trustees expenses
No expenses were paid to any of the Trustees during the year, except to reimburse them for purchases made on behalf of the charity.
5. Accounting policies
Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation and, as such, is governed by the Charities Act 2011. As it has gross income which does not exceed £250,000 per annum, section 133 of that Act entitles the charity to present a Receipts and Payments Account and a Statement of Assets and Liabilities. Accordingly, equipment purchases are not capitalised and depreciated. The full cost appears in the accounts for the year in which the equipment was purchased.
12