Our values and approach

We only provide NHS and social care services where we believe we can make a difference. We make services better than they were before for the staff and the people using our services. In turn we provide better value to the NHS and the public.

We have three values which help us stand out from the crowd, not just because there’s only three, but because they are unique to who we are. They’re our moral compass and define the way we Think, Care and Do our bit.

We don’t have a one size fits all solution because every service we provide is designed around the needs of the local population. However, we do have a common approach to delivering the very best service we can for the local community.

Giving our team freedom to care

Our talented, motivated teams have the power to make a real difference at Virgin Care. Through transformation projects which give our colleagues more time to spend with patients and less time spent in front of a computer, investing in new ways of working which help everyone feel the difference - and empowering everyone to make the changes big and small which will make a real difference.

Creating services around people

You can’t deliver great service without understanding who you’re serving so we spend time doing just that. We listen to local community needs and our commissioners and then design our services based on these local insights. We’re not afraid to look for inspiration and examples of great customer service outside our sector to improve our services.

Providing high quality care and a good experience

We’re helping the NHS with 400 services, delivering high quality care in more than 100 service types. This, coupled with the way we go about designing services, enables us to deliver care that often exceeds the expectations of those using our services (more than 93% of people who use our services say they would recommend us) and our commissioners.

Two male physiotherapists sit on a table discussing patient notes

Safe and consistent

We have to meet Care Quality Commission (CQC) standards as a provider of health and social care. We run our own internal inspections and have robust online governance and reporting systems to monitor how all of our services are doing. This means that whether you are using our services or a commissioner of our services, you can be confident that quality, safety and privacy are our absolute priorities.

A male and a female from Wansdyke Play Association stand together

Honest and transparent

We like to work in partnership with all of our commissioners. While we pride ourselves in providing safe, quality services, we know occasionally our services don’t meet the expectations of those using them. When this happens we sit down with our commissioners and discuss what went wrong, what we will do differently and what we’ve learnt so that we can put it right quickly and safely and make sure that we don’t make the same mistake again.

Expertise in getting up and running

We know how to mobilise a service safely, efficiently and on time and we regularly welcome new teams of clinical and administrative staff into the Virgin Care family, this is key to our safe transfer process. Employees often comment on how different it feels to work within the Virgin Care team, because we focus on innovating to allow our teams to spend more time with the people in their care.

Our difference – Feel the difference fund

Each year, our Feel the Difference fund is a dedicated amount of money we reserve for our colleagues to use for implementing the big and small changes to make a real difference to the communities we serve. Anyone can apply for money for their idea, no matter their job. A panel of peers from across our business, alongside our Citizen’s Panel members, review each application and award up to £10,000 each month.

Here is a project that has been driven by the Feel the difference fund.

Digital dictation services: We’ve worked with Lexacom, the UK’s leading provider of digital dictation services, to introduce a new system which banishes tapes and transforms efficiency and integrates with the clinical record system we use at the practice.

With funding from the Feel the difference fund, Lyme Regis pioneered the system – which we can now use across all of our services in England – testing out the electronic system to speed up the process of sending crucial referrals and letters.

Here is another project that has been driven by the Feel the difference fund.

Hearing amplifiers: Our colleagues in the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) in West Lancashire had identified that they were having to communicate with some patients in loud voices, which was unpleasant for colleagues and patients and not ideal in terms of protecting patient confidentiality.

With funding from the Feel the difference fund, our CERT colleagues in West Lancashire have been given new amplifiers so that they can sit and talk much more easily with patients with hearing difficulties. A great way to make a difference for our patients.

Citizens' Panel member Julie takes part in a roundtable discussion with Virgin Care colleagues to help improve services

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