Examples of charity analysis

A complex charity providing a 'continuum of care': Sue Ryder*

Sue Ryder is a well-run charity of great ambition. Providing palliative, home and long-term neurological care, it has recently taken on a first contract to provide palliative care for an entire Primary Care Trust. The charity’s chief executive, Paul Woodward, has been there for four years, during which time he has recruited an almost entirely new management team—an impressive group—plus an experienced trustee as chair.

Sue Ryder is a progressive charity, yet its very progressiveness brings risks: how will its delivery of services, previously provided by the state, work? Will it be able to reconcile the pay and working patterns of its new ex-NHS staff with its own workforce? How will its other statutory funding hold up? How will its plans for increasing voluntary fundraising, including in shops, work out?

The mix of services Sue Ryder provides is complex, but staff embrace this complexity, seeing it as part of a ‘continuum of care’ from the first signs of care needs through to the end of life. Staff at all levels seem concerned with how best to improve the well-being of those in their care—from the retail director wondering how best to maximise profits, to the volunteer in a neurological centre holding a food mixer steady so that a resident with limited physical ability might push a button to make it work.  

Read about NPC's work with Sue Ryder on our blog.

 

*This analysis was commissioned and paid for by Sue Ryder. See our conflict of interest policy here.

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