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2022-04-04-accounts

Plushealth Trustees, Annual Report 2022 for the year ended 4th April 2022 Our vision is to promote emotional and physical wellbeing by providing practical support so that people living with or affected by HIV can live healthy active lives, free from stigma and prejudice Registered charity in England & Wales (Reg.no 1191316)

Report contents

Pages
Statement from our Chair 3 - 4
Trustees’ report 5 - 7
Our charitable activities 7 – 10
Financial review 11 – 12
Charity structure, governance 13 – 14
and management
Financial statements 15 – 16
Thank you 17
Reference and administrative details 17
Declarations 17

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Statement from our Chair

I am pleased to say that Plushealth has continued to thrive during our first full year as a charity despite the ongoing Covid pandemic. This was helped by our service being online, and other charities we collaborated with adapted to enable easier communication.

The year has been a challenging and busy period. Our service has been mostly focussed on our main funded project supporting people through the Fast Tracks Cities Initiative London, peer support improvement project, together with Positively UK and NAZ. There is now a direct link from the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital webpage where people newly diagnosed or facing extra challenges due to HIV can self-refer for peer support. This project has evolved throughout the period slightly differently to expected, where Plushealth has also engaged with in clinic participants as well as online. I would like to credit our service lead, Chris Williams, for all his work in forging strong links with clinics and collaborating with or signposting to other organisations for the benefit of our participants. This work has highlighted the challenges facing some of our participants and with data collected should help in continuing to improve our service as we expand it to other areas.

While this project has taken up a lot of our resources, we unfortunately haven’t been able to progress our national peer support service as we would have wished. We have also become increasingly aware of areas of risk to a small charity. We are in the process of addressing this to increase funding and paid employees.

For the period April 2021-2022 we engaged with a total of 77 people of which 31 were via our national service and 46 via the Fast Track Cities Initiative London, peer support improvement project. There were a total of 400 interventions and 333 hours of peer support.

We ran some successful fundraising campaigns during the year including the Captain Tom 100 challenge (with a personal challenge to swim 100 lengths of a 25m pool) and our first Red Run where some of my co-trustees, Chris our service lead and others took part, raising an amazing £3,650. We are very grateful for the efforts and contribution put in by everyone who joined in or supported this fundraiser.

Our website is a bespoke design maintained by volunteers with expert knowledge. An About Us section has been added covering 7 topic areas and we have also updated current issues as needed including HIV and coronavirus information. We are looking in the short to medium term to move to a platform where we can manage the content more easily.

We continue to be active on social media. This included HIV testing week with our #BetterToKnow and animated video campaign, ensuring anyone with a reactive result was offered support and linked into specialist care.

Over the year we took part in projects representing people with HIV in collaboration with other organisations. Of note was a report published by Fast Tracks Cities London on Evolving the Care of People Living with HIV, with National AIDS Trust and their HIV and Mental Health Report and Gilead Find Your Four campaigns.

We also started work with Thrive LDN and other partner organisations to take part in a learning and research project looking at HIV and mental health. We hope to include the outcome of this research in our next report.

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Our focus for the next year is to develop our national peer support service. We have our first in person trustee meeting and Development Day planned in the summer where we hope to foster personal and team development and goals and look at how we can progress as a charity to continue to support those living with and affected by HIV.

Vicky Lomas Chair, board of trustees

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Trustees’ report

The board of trustees present their annual report for the financial year ending 4[th] April 2022 which reflects the first full year as a registered charity with Charities Commission in England and Wales.

Plushealth is a small non-company charity with an annual income of less than £500k. The charity does not hold assets worth more than £3.26 million. We have therefore followed the guidance to publish a simple report which covers the requirements as set out by the Charities Commission in England and Wales.

The trustees have chosen to set out the financial statements on a receipts and payments basis rather than prepare accrual accounts. Receipts and payments accounts involve simple cash accounting which shows the movement of cash in and out of the charity for the period stated. We have followed the notes as set out for the completion of accounts using the CC16a pro forma. As our total income is less than £25k for this period we have not included an audit or independent examiners report.

The trustees have taken the view that as this is the first full year as a registered charity a balance needed to be struck with the cost associated with engaging an external auditor/examiner against any benefit in the preparation of the annual report and financial statements. We have strong financial controls in place which are overseen by our treasurer and finance working group which is made up of 4 trustees (including our treasurer) and our Service Lead.

Our aims and activities

Our objects as set out in our constitution document dated 14[th] August 2020 are to address the needs of people living with HIV for the public benefit by

Our vision is to promote emotional and physical wellbeing by providing practical help and support so everyone living with HIV can live healthy active lives, free from stigma and prejudice.

Our actions are to inform, support, empower and improve the lives of people living with or affected by HIV.

Our approach is to provide information that is relevant, practical, and easy to understand which is based upon up-to-date science, research and guidelines relating to HIV care and treatment.

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Our delivery is via a low cost, high value model, which embraces the use of digital technology. This enables our work to have national coverage so we can reach more people living with or affected by HIV.

The role and contribution of volunteers

As a small charity we are reliant on volunteers to undertake a variety of roles which include volunteering as a trustee, peer mentor, social media officer, finance, and general administrative volunteer roles. We highly value the contribution volunteers bring to our charity, as without their commitment we could not continue our valuable work.

We encourage our volunteers to contribute to the development of our charity and in return we are committed to providing role specific training and other opportunities for our volunteers to develop their knowledge and skills.

During the period covered by this report our volunteers (including trustees) donated 1980 hours. We estimate the monetary value to be £24.k assuming a sessional hourly rate of £12.50 per hour.

In kind donations

Whilst our charity has not received any in kind donations for the period covered by this report, we wish to acknowledge the support received from those who have provided informal advice and support.

We would also like to acknowledge the support given to some of our most vulnerable service participants from other charitable organisations which include The Foodchain (nutritional support), Terrence Higgins Trust (community forum, online counselling) Positively UK (benefit advice) Islington MIND, Migrant Help and Riverhouse Trust.

Public benefit statement

HIV remains a highly stigmatised and misunderstood health condition, despite major advances in treatment, care, and advocacy. Whilst our services are specifically aimed at supporting people living with or affected by HIV there are wider public health benefits which include the following:

Physical health benefits – by providing up to date information on our website we can inform the general population about current HIV developments. We provide information on the prevention of onward transmission of HIV using treatment as a form of prevention, sometimes referred to as TasP.

By providing one-to-one peer support we inform, support, and empower people living with HIV to improve their overall health, including viral suppression, linkage to care, and physical wellbeing.

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Emotional health benefits – reducing the burden of internalised and perceived stigma has a significant benefit to wider society. Empowering people living with HIV to challenge misinformation and negative attitudes towards HIV can change beliefs and reduce stigma. Providing good quality information increases the knowledge and confidence of people who consider themselves at risk of contracting HIV. This in turn helps them make healthy choices in reducing their likelihood of acquiring HIV.

Health costs – there is evidence that where people living with HIV are supported at the point of diagnosis and beyond, their retention in care and adherence to treatment is improved when compared to those who do not receive peer support. There are additional health costs when people living with HIV are unable to continuously engage with their care and treatment. Inpatient care is particularly expensive with some estimates suggesting an average stay in a specialist HIV inpatient service costing up to £150,000 per average stay.

Our charitable activities

During the year this report covers our charitable activities focused in four areas:

Supporting and empowering peer participants

Our low cost, high value model of delivering peer support remotely using digital technology has been shown to be popular with the participants we work with. The service provides a seamless online experience where people living with or affected by HIV can register and book appointments online and get to ‘meet’ someone else living with HIV by their chosen means, typically within 2 to 3 days of registering for the service.

We provide one-to-one peer support through our national service, which is freely available across the UK, regardless of location. This is delivered remotely using digital platforms to include video, voice, and text chat support. As part of our national service, we provide peer support using email and other secure electronic means such as WhatsApp and other messaging platforms. We fund our national services through individual voluntary donations and unrestricted grant income.

In addition to our national peer support service, we provide one-to-one peer support as part of Fast Track Cities London project working alongside our partners Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust, Positively UK, and Naz Project London. This service is

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funded via a restricted grant from Healthy London Partnership and paid through the grant from our partner Positively UK.

For the period 5th April 2021 to 3rd April 2022 (all peer participant services) we engaged with 77 peer support participants and delivered the following:

5 interventions per participant 333 hours of peer support £37 is the average cost per intervention £186 is the average cost per peer support participant

National peer support service

Providing peer support throughout the four nations of the UK is one of our long held primary objectives and has been developed by people living with HIV. The service was completely funded by unrestricted funds and charitable donations for the period. This service is delivered and managed by Chris Williams, who has led this service since it was founded in 2018.

For the period 5[th] April 2021 to 3rd April 2022 our national service engaged with 31 peer support participants and delivered the following:

188 individual interventions 6 interventions per participant 157 hours of peer support £20 is the average cost per intervention £117 is the average cost per peer support participant

Fast Track Cities, London, peer support improvement project

This project is a collaboration with Positively UK, Naz Project and Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust HIV Services, including 56 Dean Street, 10 Hammersmith Broadway, Kobler Clinic, HIV services at West Middlesex Hospital and inpatient services at the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital site.

This report covers the second year of this project, and the quality improvement approach has enabled us to improve the way we engage with those accessing the service and deliver timely intervention for those people receiving a new HIV diagnosis.

For the period 5[th] April 2021 to 3rd April 2022 this service engaged with 46 peer support participants (45% of the total cohort supported)

212 individual interventions 5 interventions per participant 176 hours of peer support £54 is the average cost per intervention £272 is the average cost per peer support participant

For the period 5[th] April 2021 to 3rd April 2022 we supported 46 individual peer support participants via the Fast Track Cities Initiative improvement project. These individuals were referred to us by their clinical team because they met one or more of the following criteria:

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Informing people living with or affected by HIV

Our website provides practical information written by people living with HIV. We’ve arranged the information to mirror the experiences of people living with HIV from initial diagnosis to living well with HIV and beyond. The website pages are regularly reviewed to include new and relevant information available in the public domain. Our approach is to provide information that is relevant, practical, and easy to understand and based upon up-to-date science, research and guidelines relating to HIV care and treatment.

Visitors to our website

The following statistics provide a snapshot of visitors to our website for the period covered by the report. Visitor numbers did show a decline particularly in the last quarter of the year. We attribute this to a change in the layout of our homepage which we addressed in the following period once this trend was identified

Total visitors 1575
New visitors 1258
Returning visitors 317
Total sessions 2384
Total page views 5978
Average time on page 1 minute 14 seconds
Bounce rate 44.67%

Website development and content

Our website is currently managed and updated by volunteers. Our website is of bespoke design, which brings with it advantages in that it can be further developed to our exacting requirements. The challenge of this design is content management can be more complex and requires expert knowledge of the website to provide any updates or additions.

During the period we deployed the newly developed ‘About Us’ section of the website which we reported on in our pervious report. This new section is arranged to cover 7 topic areas:

Our work . Support our work . Meet the team . Meet our trustees . Volunteer for us , Work with us . Contact us

HIV and coronavirus information

We continued to update the section on our website with information relating to HIV and coronavirus, building upon our previous work and the continued roll-out of the vaccination programme across the UK.

We continued to develop this information by following the guidance provided by the British HIV Association (BHIVA), European AIDS Clinical Society (EACS), Public Health England, the NHS, National AIDS Trust (NAT) COVID-19 Information Network and other HIV support organisations. We’ve also used other reliable sources of information available in the public domain.

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Our social media channels

As a digital organisation we are very reliant on the use of social media to engage with the communities we serve. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are the main channels we currently use to reach out to and engage with our target audiences.

We ran some very successful fundraising campaigns using our social media channels which included the Captain Tom 100 challenge (May 2021) and World AIDS Day Red Run (October to December 2021).

We supported National HIV Testing Week in February 2022 via our social media channels and ran a campaign to ensure those receiving a positive test result were effectively linked into specialist HIV care and treatment using the hashtag #BetterToKnow which was also accompanied by our animated video on HIV testing and the support available for those receiving a positive test result.

Providing a voice for people living with HIV

During the year we collaborated with other organisations to ensure the HIV community perspective was represented in the following project areas:

Towards the end of the year we were invited to work with Thrive LDN and other partner organisations to participate in a learning and research project to explore the intersection of HIV and mental health and look forward to sharing the outcomes of this research in our next annual report.

Community Fundraising Activities

As a small charity we are reliant on the generosity of our supporters to ensure Plushealth is able to continue it’s vital work. During the financial year ended April 2022 we embarked on the development of our community fundraising activities to support our work which included:

The combined income from these community events was £5,400, which helped increase our total turnover by 21% above the previous year. This provided a strong financial footing as we head into the financial year 2022-23. We intend to build upon our community fundraising activities as this will ensure the security of our national peer support service, which doesn’t receive any funding from grants or statutory contracts.

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Financial review

Our financial review covers the period 5th April 2021 to 4th April 2022.

Receipts for the period totalled £21.1k, the majority of which were in the form of restricted funds (£12.2k) from our contract with Positively UK to deliver online peer support as part of London Fast Track Cities Improvement Fund. We raised significant income from charitable donations (£5.4k) much of which was due to our participation in the World AIDS Day Red Run for the first time since becoming a registered charity in 2020.

Our payments (costs) were well controlled for the period and totalled £15.9k which provided a net cash surplus of £5.2k.

Principle receipts for the period are detailed below: Principle receipts for the period are detailed below:
£
Voluntary donations 5.4k
Other income 0.4K
Unrestricted grants 3.1k
Positively UK 12.2k
Total 21.1k
Principle costs for the period are detailed below:
£
Generating voluntary donations
0.5k
Unrestricted spending 3.7k
Restricted spending
11.2k
Governance 0.5k
Total
15.9k
Net Surplus/deficit 5.2k

The year-end cash balance on 4th April 2022 stood at £15.3k which is represented by the following:

£ Unrestricted funds 7.9k Restricted funds 7.4k Total 15.3k

Unrestricted charitable activities

The majority of our voluntary donations £3,668 were dedicated to delivering our National Peer Support Service which receives no grant funding at this time. The cost of generating voluntary donations for the year was £505 with our governance costs totalled £546. During the period our unrestricted reserves increased by £4,188 providing a total unrestricted reserve fund of £7,914.

Restricted charitable activities

Total spending on the Fast Track Cities, London peer support improvement project was £11,230, with a surplus of £1,010 adding to our reserves for restricted funding. During the period there was no spending in relation to the Saving Lives Grant and therefore the

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balance available remains at £661. Reserves for restricted funding increased by £1,491 providing a total for restricted reserves of £7,463.

Loans, investments & property

We currently do not have any loans, investments or own any properties. Our constitution provides powers to the board of trustees to take out loans, make investment decisions and to buy or lease property to further the objects of our charity for public benefit. At this current time, we do not envisage the need to use these powers.

Reserves policy

The board of trustees have agreed a policy of keeping a working cash balance to ensure Plushealth can continue its charitable activities for a period of 3 months. In case of a decision being taken to dissolve the charity this would provide adequate financing to meet our contractual commitments and ensure the charity was closed in an orderly manner to reduce the impact on our beneficiaries and to ensure all financial agreements can be met.

Future charitable activities

Our vision is to develop the reach of our national peer support service across the UK to ensure people living with or affected by HIV can access one-to-one peer support free of charge regardless of where they live within the UK. This was the principle aim of our Founder Chris Williams which has been adopted by the board of trustees as our vision for the future of our charitable activities.

Our experience of delivering peer support online (remotely) has served the charity well during the coronavirus pandemic and beyond, offering choice to peer participants. We believe we have a strong operational model which will enable the charity to grow its presence to compliment other service providers in the post coronavirus pandemic.

Our involvement in the Fast Track Cities Improvement Programme (London) has enabled us to develop an online service model which can be integrated with NHS specialist HIV services. The experience gained to date by working with the HIV clinic teams at Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust provides our charity with opportunities to work closely with other NHS Trusts to further develop the support available to people living with or affected by HIV.

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Charity structure, governance, and management

Plushealth is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) where the only voting members are the charity trustees (foundation model). We have a total of six trustees:

Names of the charity trustees

Date appointed

Date resigned

Ms Victoria Anne Lomas (Chair) 16[th] September 2020 Mr Gerard Creamer (Treasurer) 16[th] September 2020 Mr Harun Tulunay 16[th] September 2020 Mr Sean Hourigan 1[st] February 2021 Mr Lee Forster-Kirkham 1[st] February 2021 Mr Shiraaz Chaim Sidat 1[st] February 2021

Names of Senior Staff Date appointed Date resigned Mr Christopher Williams 1[st] July 2020 (Service Lead – Fast Track Cities Initiative, London)

Trustee recruitment

We are committed to expanding the diversity and representation of all communities to our board of trustees. We welcome applications from under-represented individuals, particularly people from minority ethnicities, people who identify as trans and/or non-binary, and heterosexual men. We believe it is important our board of trustees includes people from all communities. Such a policy will be extended to our recruitment of employees and volunteers. Peer support roles are naturally occupied by people living with HIV.

Policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees

As a small charity our resources are somewhat limited to carry out what might be considered as a formal induction of new trustees. We have been reliant on the information available via the Charity Commission website and in addition provided our trustees with ‘inrole’ training.

Organisational structure

The structure of our charity is shown in the organogram shown below

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We currently employ one part-time member of staff who is the Service Lead for Fast Track Cities Initiative London peer support service. This post is currently funded until June 2023.

The day-to-day management of our charity is a voluntary role at this stage in the development of our charity. The board of trustees have delegated this role to Chris Williams who is supported by a small team of volunteers. The trustees appointed from the original steering group agreed that Chris Williams was the right candidate to lead the day-to-day management of our charity because of his significant knowledge around HIV advocacy, treatment and care together with his experience of delivering peer support online.

Charitable and political donations

During the report period our charity made no donations to other charitable or political party organisations.

Risk management

The trustees have overall responsibility for setting the direction of the charity and to deliver the public benefits as stated in our governing document. Trustee responsibilities include the leadership, governance, and financial oversight of the charity to ensure it carries out its statutory obligations and always remains financially secure. The trustees review the risk register at each quarterly board meeting and take action to mitigate any potential risks to the financial viability and legal obligations as set out by the Charity Commission.

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Financial statements report

Statement of financial activities for the year ended 4th April 2022

Receipts and payment account

Receipts from: Unrestricted Unrestricted Restricted Total Year 2020-2021
£ £ £
£
Voluntary donations 5,447 0
5,447
1,288
Charitable activities 3,060
12,240 15,300
16,190
Other income 400 0 400 0
------------
------------ ------------ ------------
Total Receipts 8,907
12,240
21,147 17,478
------------
------------ ------------ ------------

Payments made:
Unrestricted Restricted Total Year 2020-2021
£ £ £
£
Generating voluntary receipts 505 0
505
221
Charitable activities 3,668
11,230 14,898 9,365
Governance 546 0 546 297
------------
------------ ------------ ------------
Total Payments 4,719
11,230 15,949 9,883
------------
------------ ------------ ------------

£ £
£ £
Net receipts/(payments) 4,188
1,010 **5,198 ** 7,595
**Transfer between funds1 ** (481) 481
0
0
Adjustment 2020/21 accounts2 - - - 19

Cash funds last period end
4,207 **5,972 ** **10,179 ** 2,565

Cash funds this period end
7,914
7,463 15,377 10,179

Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the year 4th April 2022

Cash Funds Unrestricted Restricted Total 2020-2021
£
£ £
£
Cash at bank 7,914 7,463
15,377 10,179
Assets: kept for
charity’s own use
Equipment
374 0 374 349
Inventory 30 0 30 0
Creditors: falling
due within one-year 1,148 58 1,206 2,056


Net Assets: kept for


7,170
7,405
14,575 8,472
charity’s own use

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Movement in funds, as of 4[th] April 2022

Opening Income Transfer Payments Closing
Balance Funds Balance
Unrestricted income:
£
£
£ £ £
Charitable activities
4,207 8,907 (481) 4,719 7,914
---------- ----------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Total unrestricted income 4,207 8,907 (481)
4,719 7,914
---------- ----------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Restricted income:
Fast Track Cities London 5,469 12,240 323 11,230 6,802
Saving Lives
503 0 158 0 661
--------- ----------- --------- ---------- ---------
Total restricted income
5,972 12,240 481 11,230 7,463
--------- ----------- --------- --------- ---------
---------- ---------- --------- ---------- ---------
Totals
10,179 21,147 0 15,949 15,377
---------- ---------- --------- ---------- ---------

Note[1] Transfer of funds from unrestricted funds to restricted funds to correct an error relating to apportionment of VAT. A total of £481 was transferred from the unrestricted funds line; £323 credited to Fast Track Cities London account line and £158 to Saving Lives fund line.

Note[2 ] Adjustment to the year-end closing balance for the previous accounting period 2020/21 which was under reported by £19 due to an accounting error.

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Thank you

We should like to take this opportunity to thank all our supporters and volunteers without whom we would not be able to continue our valuable work. As a small charity we are extremely appreciative of the generosity shown by so many individuals and their belief in our vision to promote emotional and physical wellbeing by providing practical help and support so everyone living with HIV can live healthy active lives, free from stigma and prejudice.

Working collaboratively with other organisations is vital for any charity and is particularly important for a small emerging charity like Plushealth. We would like to give special thanks to:

10 Hammersmith Broadway, Hammersmith Twickenham House, West Middlesex University Hospital

Reference and administrative details

Charity name: Plushealth Registered charity number 1191316 Charity’s principal address 250 Longford Court, Emlyn Gardens, London W12 9UW

Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report and financial statements.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature:

Full name: Vicky Lomas Position: Chair of the board of trustees Date: 24[th] February 2023

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