**Registered Charity Number: 1177939** 

**BRISTOL HOSPITAL BROADCASTING SERVICE TRUSTEES’ REPORT & ACCOUNTS YEAR ENDED 31[ST] JANUARY 2023** 

**Bristol Royal Infirmary Upper Maudlin Street Bristol BS2 8HW** 



**Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service Trustees’ Report & Accounts 2023** 

|**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 2023** 

## **Trustees’ Report** 

The Trustees of Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service are pleased to present their Report and Accounts for the period 1[st] February 2022 to 31[st] January 2023. 

## **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: 

1. “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 

2. “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 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 2023** 

request shows which air three-to-four 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 is in the process of being replaced and we are working with the Hospital Trust to ensure we feature prominently on this new platform. 

Like many charities, we were heavily impacted by the Covid 19 global pandemic which took hold at the end of March 2020 and since then we still have 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 a lack of clarity 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. 

We have continued to receive interest from potential volunteers, however with the Hospital Trust suspending their mandatory induction and training programme during the Covid outbreak we were not able to welcome any new members to the service during the period. However, at the end of 2022, one our members attended a meeting with the Trustees of the Hospital Trust in his capacity as a Patient Support Volunteer and we were pleased to learn that the Hospital Trust planned to develop the volunteer induction and training programme during 2023. It is our expectation that this should make it easier for us to welcome and retain volunteers. 

We have increased our stock of original in-house produced pre-recorded programmes during the period which includes ‘Decade of the Day’, ‘Step Aside for the Stars’, and ‘Duets Through the Decades’. 

Prior to the year end, it was decided that our listeners would benefit from receiving regular news updates, but as we do not have the resources to produce these ourselves we have subscribed to Radio News Hub for a paid for service to deliver half hourly news bulletins. This service will commence in February 2023. 

During the year, our Programme Controller and Trustee, Chris Wood celebrated 50 years as a volunteer for the service which is a remarkable achievement. Chris was presented with a glass trophy by our Honorary President and later won in the volunteer category at the prestigious BBC Make a Difference Awards. 

In July 2022 our former Honorary Treasurer, Brian Eales, sadly passed away. Brian had joined the service in 1970 and shortly afterwards became a Trustee where he raised a significant amount of funds for the service and was duly appointed Appeals Secretary. Alongside his role as a Trustee, Brian was a technical operator on our classical programmes. However, undoubtedly, Brian’s greatest contribution was as our Treasurer a 

3 



**Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service Trustees’ Report & Accounts 2023** 

role he held from 1978 to 2004. Following his retirement, he remained associated with the service and was made a Life Member in 2014. 

Our Annual General Meeting (‘AGM’) was held, for the first time in the service’s history, as a hybrid meeting. We are very pleased to report that Peter Newman, who was co-opted as a Trustee in March 2022, put himself forward to be a Trustee and he was duly elected by the membership. Broadcaster Chris Serle also agreed to continue as our Honorary President and BHBS wishes to thank Chris for his invaluable ongoing support. 

We held three very successful bucket collections at both Tesco and Sainsbury’s in December 2022 raising a total of £1,850, before card payment fees. 

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 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, but now extended to 5 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 when restrictions 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. However our greatest frustration is our inability to physically return to the wards, but we will continue to work with the Trust to find a suitable resolution. 

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 around 560 minutes of health and wellbeing messages throughout the week which equates to 5.55% of our output. This should 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. In 2021 we took great strides when we started recording a regular programme compiled of resident requests collected by staff at the Four Seasons Health Care residential homes. However, unfortunately, this care provider cancelled our service for financial reasons. We will pursue opportunities with other residential and care homes in the future. 

Embracing 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 

4 



**Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service Trustees’ Report & Accounts 2023** 

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. 

## **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 (2022: £25). The average number of qualifying members was 30 (2022: 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; Tesco and Sainsbury’s for allowing us to hold bucket collections at their stores; 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 £17,632, with income of £4,314 and expenditure of £2,484. 

## **Receipts** 

Income is generated from several sources, however principally it comes from donations from individuals, companies and other organisations, membership subscriptions, and Gift Aid. Receipts totalled £4,314 for the year (2022: £2,842). 

Donations are unpredictable and often fluctuate from one year to the next, but we saw a substantial increase this year. 

Being able to expand our Christmas collections to a second venue increased fundraising income too. 

5 



**Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service Trustees’ Report & Accounts 2023** 

Gift Aid, bank interest, membership subscriptions, and the sale of surplus equipment accounts for almost all of the remainder of our receipts. 

## **Payments** 

A tight control has been maintained over expenditure during the period. Payments totalled £2,484 (2022: £3,969). 

We were able to stabilise a lot of our costs with either a decrease or modest increase in costs compared to the prior period. 

In the prior year our greatest expense was repairs, renewals and equipment but this has significantly decreased in this period which primarily explains the considerable reduction in overall payments. 

## **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 £5k to £10k which is broken down as: 

|**Reserves range**|**£k**|
|---|---|
|Cost of unforeseen emergencies|1.0|
|Small contingency fund for unforeseen operational costs|0.5|
|All of our income streams temporarily cease|3.5|
|**Minimum level**|**5.0**|
|Range|5.0|
|**Maximum level**|**10.0**|



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 £10,060 and reserves of £7,572 with no restricted funds. The reserves held are inline with our target range. 

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 

6 



**Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service Trustees’ Report & Accounts 2023** 

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 (re-appointed May 2022) Peter Newman (appointed May 2022) Paul Popiel Dave Rawlings* (re-appointed May 2022) Jon Rogers Andy Sloper Chris Wood 

*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 

2[nd] July 2023 ……………………………… Date 

2[nd] July 2023 ……………………………… Date 

7 



**Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service Trustees’ Report & Accounts 2023** 

## **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 2023. 

## **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 

22[nd] May 2023 ……………………………… Date 

8 



**Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service Trustees’ Report & Accounts 2023** 

## **Receipts and Payments Account for the Year Ended 31[st] January 2023** 

|**Receipts**<br>Donations<br>Fundraising<br>Gift Aid<br>Interest received<br>Membership subscriptions<br>Sale of surplus equipment<br>Other receipts<br>**Payments**<br>Telephone and internet charges<br>Outside broadcast costs<br>Third party programming costs<br>Printing, postage and stationery<br>Repairs, renewals and equipment<br>Insurance<br>Subscriptions, licences and website<br>Health, safety and personal protective equipment<br>Fundraising costs and fees<br>Merchant and auction fees<br>Volunteer long service award<br>Trustees' meetings and AGM costs<br>**Net of Receipts / (Payments)**<br>**Total Fund Brought Forward**<br>**Total Fund Carried Forward**|**Note**<br>1<br>2||**2023**<br>**Unrestricted**<br>**Funds**<br>**£**<br>1,366<br>1,879<br>435<br>20<br>550<br>62<br>2|**2023**<br>**Unrestricted**<br>**Funds**<br>**£**<br>1,366<br>1,879<br>435<br>20<br>550<br>62<br>2|**2022**<br>**Unrestricted**<br>**Funds**<br>**£**<br>800<br>1,369<br>119<br>2<br>550<br>-<br>2|**2022**<br>**Unrestricted**<br>**Funds**<br>**£**<br>800<br>1,369<br>119<br>2<br>550<br>-<br>2|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||||
|||||**4,314**<br>**£**<br>728<br>144<br>240<br>-<br>40<br>487<br>597<br>-<br>-<br>2<br>59<br>187||**2,842**<br>**£**<br>609<br>120<br>-<br>103<br>1,764<br>511<br>628<br>8<br>83<br>(1)<br>-<br>144|
|||||**2,484**||**3,969**|
|||||**1,830**||**(1,127)**|
|||||**15,802**||**16,929**|
|||||**17,632**||**15,802**|



9 



**Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service Trustees’ Report & Accounts 2023** 

## **Statement of Assets and Liabilities as at 31[st] January 2023** 

|**Cash Funds**<br>Lloyds - Treasurer's Account 1<br>Lloyds - Treasurer's Account 2<br>Lloyds - Savings Account<br>Santander<br>PayPal<br>**Other Monetary Assets**<br>Debtors<br>**Liabilities**<br>Creditors falling due within one year<br>**Net Assets**<br>**Funds**<br>Restricted funds<br>Unrestricted funds|**Note**<br>3||**2023**<br>**£**<br>249<br>42<br>2,002<br>14,867<br>372|**2022**<br>**£**<br>258<br>101<br>2,952<br>12,097<br>394|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||||**17,532**<br>**100**|**15,802**<br>**- **|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||||
||||**17,632 **|**15,802**|
||||**-**<br>**17,632**|**-**<br>15,802|
||||**17,632 **|**15,802**|



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 2023** 

Signed on behalf of the Trustees: 


………………………………….. D J Rawlings Chairman 

2[nd] July 2023 ……………………………… Date 


………………………………….. J Rogers ATT(Fellow) FMAAT Treasurer 

2[nd] July 2023 

……………………………… Date 

11 



**Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service Trustees’ Report & Accounts 2023** 

## **Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31[st] January 2023** 

|**1. Donations**<br>Bristol Brunel Probus Club via Mark Hoskins<br>Clevedon Golf Club via Mark Hoskins<br>Dave Fox<br>Four Seasons Healthcare Group<br>In memory of Roger Morris<br>Individuals and friends of BHBS<br>KPMG<br>Mark Hoskins<br>Parsley Box<br>Smile Publishing Ltd<br>**2. Fundraising**<br>Bucket collections at Sainsbury's, Emersons Green<br>Bucket collections at Tesco, Brislington<br>Everyclick Ltd - Give As You Live<br>SmileAmazon<br>**3. Debtors**<br>Advances for reimbursement of purchases||**2023**<br>**£**<br>-<br>50<br>25<br>-<br>-<br>16<br>-<br>25<br>500<br>750|**2022**<br>**£**<br>50<br>-<br>25<br>500<br>25<br>25<br>150<br>25<br>-<br>-|
|---|---|---|---|
|||**1,366**|**800**|
|||**2023**<br>**£**<br>581<br>1,269<br>18<br>11|**2022**<br>**£**<br>-<br>1,337<br>15<br>17|
|||**1,879**|**1,369**|
|||**2023**<br>**£**<br>**100**|**2022**<br>**£**<br>**-**|



Advances for reimbursement of purchases 

## **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