**Doctors in Distress Charity Numbers: England & Wales (1184953) Scotland (SC049715)** ## **Trustees' Annual Report & Financial Statements for the Year to 30 Jun 2022** **Prepared by Darren Cockburn and Ann Paul (on behalf of the trustees)** **8 February 2023** ## **Doctors in Distress** # **Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements for the period from 01 July 2021 to 30 Jun 2022** ## **Reference & Administration Details** ## **Charity Details:** The Charity is constituted as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO in England & Wales, SCIO in Scotland) Registered Numbers: England & Wales (1184953) Scotland (SC049715) Address: 28 Stratford Way, Watford, Herts, WD17 3DJ ## **Type of Governing Document:** Foundation model constitution ## **Trustees during the Year** Dame Clare Gerada (Chair) Mr Amandip Sidhu (Vice-Chair) Mr Darren Cockburn (Treasurer) Mr Stephen Cohen (appointed 17 May 2022) Dr Ananta Dave Professor Subodh Dave Ms Fiorella Massey (resigned 12 October 2022) Dr Gavin McColl Dr Nishma Shah Mr Richard Spooner (resigned 31 January 2022) Rt. Hon. Anna Soubry ## **Senior Staff with Delegated Responsibilities** Ms Ann Paul – Chief Executive Officer ## **Trustee Selection Methods:** By voting method among existing Trustees ## **How New Trustees are Inducted and Trained:** Doctors in Distress has a number of experienced people as members of the Trustee Board. They have received a copy of the charity’s Articles and Memorandum of Association, Trustee terms of reference together with the latest update of charitable activities. Declarations of Conflict of Interest are completed and are regularly updated. The Trustee Policy has been written and a skills audit undertaken **.** 2 ## **Objects and activities** ## **Objectives** Our objects are to promote and protect the mental health of those working in the medical profession, and their families, throughout England and Wales, primarily (but not exclusively) by providing information to doctors, health care professionals, members of the public and organisational leaders to raise awareness and encourage measures that might prevent work place stress, burnout and suicide and by providing information on available support and resources to help those affect by workplace stress, burnout and suicide. These objectives can be summarised as: 1. To promote and protect the mental health of health professionals 2. To eliminate stigma around mental health in the health sector 3. To promote a duty of care by employers for the mental health of health workers 4. To develop and provide initiatives and interventions to promote and protect the mental health of health professionals Our ultimate goal is to reduce the number of suicides throughout the medical workforce. ## **Activities and impact for the year** The team has worked hard during this financial year to achieve our objectives and charitable aims. The changing pressures on medical professionals has meant that it has been more difficult to reach many individuals who might be most likely to benefit from these programmes. ## _Programmes:_ Throughout 2021/2022, Doctors in Distress ran 15 separate programmes and 8 webinars. In addition to this, we published articles in three publications and had speakers at a wide range of conferences and meetings, allowing us to influence and support over 2500 individuals. Doctors in Distress has a presence across all social media platforms and continues to build on these communication opportunities. Several commissioning organisations requested repeated programmes, such as The Wesleyan Foundation and The Royal College of Nursing (through CHSA) and the College of Paramedics. The Royal Literary Fund and The Photographic Society have continued to work in partnership to deliver the creativity programmes. ## _Awareness Raising and Influencing:_ Doctors in Distress was honoured to be the charity chosen for the Wounded Healer Conference for NHS Practitioner Health. This presented an opportunity to engage with many individuals to increase awareness of the charity and work we do. We premiered a bespoke play written and performed by Brian Daniels and highlighting, through drama, scenarios which are only too common in Primary Care settings across the UK. Doctors in Distress has been campaigning for the NHS to provide one hour per month for reflective practice for every member of staff. This is ambitious and has entailed several meetings with parliamentarians and their staff. An article in The House magazine, which goes to everyone in Parliament, was well received as were publications in Public Sector Focus and Public Policy Projects. 3 Furthermore, we submitted a report to the Health and Social Care Commission on Workforce which can be seen publicly on their website. Doctors in Distress was co-host at a meeting of decision makers held at The Royal College of Psychiatrists which not only resulted in many individuals having a deeper understanding of the value of reflective practice, but a letter of the Chief Executive of the NHS and the Chief Medical Officer with many signatories all calling for changes within the NHS contracts. In order to further our objective to eliminate stigma around mental health, our trustees have spoken at many conferences and other events, including Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Surrey Psychiatrists, BAPIO Conference, This Can Happen Conferences. By engaging with over 400 individuals, we are spreading the influence of Doctors in Distress and working to eradicate the stigma which persists in the medical professions around their own mental health. Several of our trustees have included Doctors in Distress in presentations and speeches including on television and in print, enabling the reach for the charity to expand each time. ## _Income Generation:_ We are so grateful to have the generous support of so many more individuals and organisations this year, both financial and advice, as well as pro-bono support. A list of our most generous supporters can be found below. On behalf of every doctor, nurse, and other healthcare professionals who has benefited from Doctors in Distress programmes, as well as the team, we cannot thank you enough. Without your help, none of this would have been possible. A list of our supporters can be found as Appendix 1 We held four fundraising events during the year, starting with a Garden Party in the home of our Trustee, The Rt. Hon. Anna Soubry. We were blessed with good weather and the garden was stunning. In December, Gary Lineker joined Prof Sir Simon Wessely in conversation at The Royal Society of Medicine. It was fascinating to draw similarities between medics and footballers in terms of their attention to their own self care. It also gave us all an opportunity to celebrate our first Festive event in person which was kindly sponsored by Canaccord Genuity. Being the chosen charity for The Wounded Healer Conference, where we had a prominent position for our stand, we were able to network with both medical professionals as well as others working in the field. This was the Premiere of our play, Beneath the White Coat, written by Brian Daniels. In June, Baroness Dido Harding hosted a small dinner at The Bank of England, a stunning venue and Dido’s gift from the Bank as she completed her two terms on the Bank’s Council. Our thanks to Dido and the Bank of England team who ensured an excellent evening for all concerned. ## _Internal organisation:_ The Doctors in Distress team remained constant through this financial year with everyone working hard to maintain the momentum. We take this opportunity to thank them – Marie Searle, Susannah Basile and Eilean Crombie. None of the work would have been possible without them. Our wider family includes an increasing group of Ambassadors, all of whom have joined this group to assist with our mission. We cannot thank them enough. _Conclusion:_ 4 This has been a very busy and eventful year of slow and steady growth. The charity’s aim to eliminate the pervasive stigma around mental health continues to be very challenging but no less important. The Trustee Board, together with the executive team, will continue to promote and protect the mental health of our national medical workforce in order to stop suicides in the profession. To do this, our focus in the coming year will be on influencing decision makers and generating income to show that our programmes are effective as proof of concept in order to scale up to meet the need. ## **Statutory Declaration on Public Benefit** The trustees declare that they have complied with their duty to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the Charity Commission in exercising their powers or duties. No trustee received any remuneration or benefits in kind during the year other than reimbursement for out-of-pocket travel expenses. ## **Financial Review** ## **Statement of the Charity's Policy on Reserves** The Trustees' policy is to build up the reserves sufficient to cover 3 months’ running costs of day-today operations. ## **Details of Any Funds Materially in Deficit** The Trustees declare that the charity had no funds in deficit at the date of the statement. ## **State of the Charity’s Finances** In the period ended 30 June 2021 the Charity received £224,648 in donations and other funding (including restricted funding) and spent £259,158 on expenses related to its charitable activities. These costs were primarily staff and subcontractor related. A significant proportion of the deficit for the year relates to the delivery of programmes that were contracted (and cash received) in the previous financial year. The charity had a total cash at bank and in hand of £62,595 as of 30 June 2022, representing some 3 months of running costs. The charity also had a debtor of some £34,000 of unrestricted funding at the year end which is not reflected in our cash based accounts presented here. That money was received in July 2022 and substantially increased the cash balance. The Trustees are satisfied that the Charity has sufficient funds to carry out its objectives. ## **Restricted Funds** The Trustees declare that in the period to 30 June 2022 Restricted Donations and Grants of £130,302 were received. These restricted funds were provided to deliver programmes of group discussion sessions, webinars and similar activities for specific groups of health professionals. The majority of the activities associated with this funding were delivered within the year, with outstanding restricted funding of £25,875 to be delivered in the period from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023. The significant costs associated with the restricted activities as well as the ongoing delivery of programmes commissioned and paid for in the previous financial year meant that there was a significant deficit on the activities completed during the year using restricted funding. ## **Designated Funds** The Charity did not set aside any unrestricted funds for any specific purposes during the year. 5 ## **Gifted Services** During the year the Charity received pro-bono support from Impact Privacy, in respect of certain legal services. ## **Trustees Expenses** During the year the charity did not reimburse any Trustees for expenses. ## **Outstanding Guarantees** The Trustees declare that the charity gave no financial guarantees during the year and that it had no potential liability outstanding at the date of this statement. ## **Outstanding Debts** The Trustees declare that the charity had no outstanding debts, secured or unsecured as at 30 June 2022 and that it had no such debts at the date of this statement. ## **Declaration** **The Trustees declare that they have approved the above report and authorised that it be signed on their behalf.** ## **On Behalf of the trustees,** ## **Signed by Dame Clare Gerada:** **Date: 8 February 2023** 6 ## **Doctors in Distress** ## **Independent Examiner's Report to the trustees of Doctors in Distress** I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the charity for the year ended 30 June 2022 which are set out on page 8. ## **Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner** As the trustees of Doctors in Distress 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 Doctor in Distress's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. ## **Independent examiner’s statement** Your examiner must be a member of a body listed in section 145 of the 2011 Act. I confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a member of Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, which is one of the listed bodies. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect: 1. accounting records were not kept in respect of Doctors in Distress as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or 3. the accounts do not comply with the accounting requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view' which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. I. C. F. S. Agar FCA Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales Westwood House 78 Loughborough Road Quorn Loughborough Leicestershire LE12 8DX 7 ## Notes: - 1) The other income for 2021/22 include a £980.40 payment of VAT received in error from a programme funder that was returned after the financial year end - 2) Fixed Assets: Fixed assets are primarily computers and similar equipment used in the running of the charity. 8 **APPENDIX 1 Supporters** **Doctors in Distress** wishes to acknowledge the support of the following with our grateful thanks: ## **Individuals:** Ahmed Aber Adam Kay Adrian James Allan Barton Ananta Dave Anna Soubry Benjamin Holdsworth Brian Daniels Brian Fairchild Carole Stone Christopher Bischoff Claire Enders Clare Gerada Costas Michael Dido Harding Fiorella and Stephen Massey Gabbi Stopp Helen Garr Henrietta Bowden-Jones Howard Calvert Jer O’Mahony Jeremy Hunt Jess Dobson Jonathan Osborn Kato Wong Keith Baddams Kerry Young Leon Atkins Lucy Scarborough Lucy Warner Madeleine Woodley Maria Papanastassiou Mark Warmby Michele Acton Nathan Wallis Neil Davidson Paul Efthymiou Peter Hughes Phil Caplin Rachel Clark Roger Kirby Samantha Anthony Sigurd Reinton Simon Wessely Subodh Dave Vincent Sai Will Beharrell Will Nicholson ## **Organisations:** Balance Books BMR Foundation NHS Practitioner Health The Albert Hunt Trust The Allen Lane Foundation The Ardonagh Community Trust The Bank of England The Bright Future Trust The London Leadership Academy The Royal College of Nursing The Royal College of Psychiatrists The Holiday Saturday Fund The Royal Literary Fund The Royal Society of Medicine The Wesleyan Foundation University of West of England 9