Social value policy

Our social value policy, in line with best practices for organisations providing services procured by the public sector, covers COVID-19 recovery, tackling economic inequality, sustainability and fighting climate change, equal opportunity, and wellbeing.

COVID-19 recovery

Digital-first elective care pathways are crucial for healthcare organisations recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly concerning the surgical backlog. Concentric and other digital consent / econsent applications are vital in enabling digital-first elective care pathways, particularly with remote consent. The NHS features Concentric as a tool to support COVID-19 recovery.

We have been responsive to the needs of our partner organisations during the pandemic and secured Welsh Government and Innovate UK grant funding to deliver projects to support the initial response to and recovery from the pandemic.

In response to the pandemic, employees have mainly worked remotely and flexibly.

Tackling economic inequality

Concentric Health is a health technology startup / SME (small/medium-sized enterprise) based in Wales. Founded and based in Wales, the Company has created job opportunities in Wales and has led to international inward investment.

Since 2019, Concentric Health has been hiring team members in the high-growth digital health sector. Our recruitment practices and employment conditions aim to follow the Good Work Plan’s foundational principles of quality work: fair pay, participation and progression, voice and autonomy. We support workforce development by training existing employees and medical and technical student placements with Cardiff University.

We aim to support other SMEs across the UK and, by doing so, increase supply chain resilience and capacity. Examples include our use of co-working spaces such as Tramshed Tech and Desg in Cardiff and our Cyber security partner Sapphire.

We are willing to commit 1% of any Concentric Health contract revenue to support local communities supported by the contracting healthcare organisation. Support decisions will be made collaboratively with the healthcare organisation.

Fighting climate change

As an organisation, we are committed to supporting net-zero efforts both in our activities as a company and through the impact of the products we develop.

We are involved in a specific project to support the NHS to reach net-zero by 2040 (with an ambition to reach an 80% reduction by 2028 to 2032). The project explores the feasibility of introducing carbon data to support patient-clinician shared decision making conversations. It is one of 10 NHS/SBRI backed net-zero projects for 2022.

The report for this project is available in the insight toolkit, while the key findings were published in The Bulletin of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

The core Concentric product reduces the carbon impact of healthcare, both by remote consent functionality reducing the number of in-person outpatient appointments required and the removal of paper use in the consent process.

Where possible, we use carbon neutral providers in our supply chain, such as Google, for our cloud hosting. Google is carbon neutral today, but aiming higher: their goal is to run on carbon-free energy, 24/7, at all their data centres by 2030.

Equal opportunity

Concentric Health is committed to encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion among our workforce, and eliminating unlawful discrimination. The aim is for our workforce to be truly representative of all sections of society and our customers, and for each employee to feel respected and able to give their best. The organisation - in providing goods and/or services and/or facilities - is also committed against unlawful discrimination of customers or the public.

We publicly commit to:

1. Encourage equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace as they are good practice and make business sense
2. Create a working environment free of bullying, harassment, victimisation and unlawful discrimination, promoting dignity and respect for all, and where individual differences and the contributions of all staff are recognised and valued.
3. Take seriously complaints of bullying, harassment, victimisation and unlawful discrimination by fellow employees, customers, suppliers, visitors, the public and any others in the course of the organisation’s work activities.
4. Make opportunities for training, development and progress available to all staff, who will be helped and encouraged to develop their full potential, so their talents and resources can be fully utilised to maximise the efficiency of the organisation.
5. Make decisions concerning staff being based on merit (apart from in any necessary and limited exemptions and exceptions allowed under the Equality Act).
6. Review employment practices and procedures when necessary to ensure fairness, and also update them and the policy to take account of changes in the law.
7. Monitor the make-up of the workforce regarding information such as age, sex, ethnic background, sexual orientation, religion or belief, and disability in encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion, and in meeting the aims and commitments set out in the equality, diversity and inclusion policy.

Wellbeing

We are committed to supporting mental health in the workplace, implementing the six standards of the ‘Mental Health at Work commitment’:

1. Prioritise mental health in the workplace by developing and delivering a systematic programme of activity
2. Proactively ensure work design and organisational culture drive positive mental health outcomes
3. Promote an open culture around mental health
4. Increase organisational confidence and capability
5. Provide mental health tools and support
6. Increase transparency and accountability through internal and external reporting

In 2022 we commit to providing paid-for volunteering time for all staff, to support community-led initiatives or good causes of significance to the individual.