The trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with the charity's governing document, the Companies Act 2006 and "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)" (effective 1 January 2019).
The College of Medicine's purpose as set out in the objects of the Company's memorandum of association is to advance health for the public benefit.
The College of Medicine was founded in 2010 to reform healthcare so that it works for everyone in a way that’s inclusive, progressive and compassionate. We’re redefining medicine beyond pills and procedures and re-connecting patients and practitioners, conventional and non-conventional approaches and people and their environments. The College is a coming together of the brightest minds in the UK including NHS pioneers, scientists, CAM professionals, students and members of the public.
The main objective for the reporting period was to provide a source of information and learning through supporting development and use of evidence to enhance clinical and cost-effectiveness in health service delivery, providing public and educational events to support health professionals in their working lives, patients in their recovery and self-care and students in their future career, recognising and rewarding outstanding achievements by clinicians, students, and service providers for new approaches and practices in patient-centred care and inputting to Government consultation and policies on health services.
The trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake.
Achievements and performance
The College of Medicine remains unique in its inclusive approach to membership recognising that everyone, including patients and carers as well as all disciplines of health and social care professionals, play an important role in the issues surrounding health. The Council, Trustees and the Executive have continued with the delivery of online events and activities showcasing interactive ways of supporting our community, in addition to planning face-to-face events for 2023/24. Online events have included nutrition, art therapy, hypnotherapy and yoga as well as daily exercise sessions. In addition, the College has provided a number of discrete webinars, including those on the use of supplements for health, and a series on understanding food related issues for UK social prescribing link workers and health & wellbeing coaches.
While we still advocate that there needs to be a new attitude to healthcare: one which forges partnerships across society and emphasises prevention and a multi-faceted approach, our main focus in the past year has been on how we can best support our membership through these uncertain times of conflict in Europe and the resultant economic downturn.
Aside from the challenges posed by global events, the year under review has seen a continuation of the revised structured governance approach to financial management. The Trustees have provided a strong structured governance approach alongside ongoing support from the College and its members and supporters.
The College Trustees have continued to undertake a governance review of all of the teachers and educators that had been helping to strengthen the College’s education offering. There has been a focus to ensure that third party collaborators share the College’s values and to work on building membership.
Events and Collaborations in 2023-2024:
Free daily online exercise session provided by College member Sarah Bazin
28th April 2023-29th December 2023 - Freddy's Free Friday Therapy at Four: free online Hypnotherapy Sessions provided by College member and Hypnotherapist Freddy Jacquin.
15th April 2023 and 27th May 2023 - free online Laughter Yoga sessions provided by College member Sara Kay.
10th May 2023 - workshop held in London with Dr Sat Bir Khalsa in collaboration with The Minded Institute: Yoga for Sleep and Sleep Disorders: Science, Research and Application
13th May 2023 - workshop held in Bristol with the National Centre for Integrative medicine, supported by the College: Evolving Consciousness: a Deeper Way to Health
19th -21st May 2023 - course at the Ratford Retreat Centre in Wiltshire facilitated by Derek and Sandy Chase: From Surviving to Thriving in the NHS
24th May 2023 - online session provided by College member Stephan Hein: TGL – The Medicine of Creative Consciousness
31st May 2023 - 28th July 2023 - online sessions provided by College member Stephan Hein: “Singing Sounds of Yoga” and Yoga Nidra
7th June 2023 - conference at Bournemouth University supported by the College: Creating Health and Harmony in the Community
21st June 2023 - online masterclass with the Food for the Brain Foundation, supported by the College: Nutrition Solutions for Autism and Neurodivergence
22nd June 2023 - nutrition webinar provided by College member Heather Richards
22nd June 2023 - College of Medicine webinar sponsored by Nelsons: Bach Flower Essences
29th June 2023-1st July 2023 - Integrative and Personalised Medicine conference in London
30th June 2023-2nd July 2023 - conference hosted by The University of Wales Trinity Saint David in Wales, supported by the College: Yoga, Ayurveda, and the Cultivation of Harmony
19th July 2023 - College of Medicine Annual Meeting
8th-10th September 2023 - course at the Ratford Retreat Centre in Wiltshire facilitated by Derek and Sandy Chase: From Surviving to Thriving in the NHS
14th and 21st September 2023 - online course for social prescribing link workers organised by IMA, supported by the College: Whistle-Stop Tour Through Complementary Therapies
13th-15th October 2023 - course at the Ratford Retreat Centre in Wiltshire facilitated by Derek and Sandy Chase: Mindfulness and Resilience for Student Health Professionals
23rd October-1st November 2023 - four day online course with Nelsons: Level 1 Bach International Education
10th November 2023 - online Integrative Health Convention supported by the College: Integrative Health: Living Longer & Better
11th November 2023 - seminar in London provided by the College of Practitioners of Phytotherapy (CPP), supported by the College: Phytotherapy Using Schedule 20 Part 2 and Restricted Herbs
26th January-28th January 2024 - course at the Ratford Retreat Centre in Wiltshire facilitated by Derek and Sandy Chase: From Surviving to Thriving in the NHS
17th February 2024 - The Student Conference in London, sponsored by Waitrose
March 2024 - 3 x weekly Lu Jong Yoga and Shiné Meditation classes, provided by College member Dr Deniah Pachai
13th March 2024 - free online session in association with Freddy Jacquin: Quit Smoking and/or Vaping Hypnotherapy Session
14th March 2024 - online event provided by College Lead for MSK Faculty Dr George Ampat: Can Exercise Decrease the Need for Total Hip and Knee Replacements?
Other collaboratives:
Beyond Pills Campaign – launched by the College of Medicine in 2022 at Integrated & Personalised Medicine Congress, calling for urgent Government intervention on over-prescribing in the NHS. This is now known as Beyond Pills Alliance and is the non-parliamentary wing of the Beyond Pills All Party Parliamentary Group which launched in December 2023, bringing together the APPG for Prescribed Drug Dependence and the College of Medicine Beyond Pills Campaign.
Food for Mood Project – created with the assistance of Dr Uma Naidoo, a food pamphlet looking at eat well guidance, inequalities, labelling and food banks & launched at Integrated & Personalised Medicine Congress 2023
Twin Farm Project - started in 2022
Project Objective
• To demonstrate the potential role of healthy food, engaging with the outside environment, farming and sustainable food production with improving individual health and healing.
• To take groups of 6 patients on 6 occasions at 2 weekly intervals to the farms
A three partnered event:
Sustainable Food Trust
University of Bristol
College of Medicine
Faiths/Kings Fund - Initial meeting held in March 2024 bringing together 8 people who are in the forefront of social prescribing and around 15 of the different Faiths to explore how we can progress social prescribing and how we can maximise the input of the Faiths to it.
Nurses Roundtable/NHS England - A school nurse for every school - The College joined forces with the Queen’s Nursing Institute and the School and Public Health Nurses Association to build support, canvass ideas and plan a way forward to show how investing in school nursing is the key to reversing the decline in children’s health with production of report. - Initial RoundTable held in December 2023
Green Social Prescribing (GSP) – Green Social Prescribing (GSP) aims to improve people’s health by immersing them in nature, utilises the natural resources of The Great Field - and potentially other nature locations in and around Poundbury.
Creating Health & Harmony in the Community – The aim of CHHC is to encourage individuals to live in harmony with ourselves, the natural and built world, with the land, plant and animal kingdoms as well as with our fellow human beings. We also aim to create and encourage healthy happy equal safe future generations to live in a healthy happy safe sustainable environment and community.
Eatwell Community is a whole community approach for a given geographical area including school initiatives, gardening projects and a commitment that anyone who wants to grow things can, connection to farms, buy in from local shops/supermarkets, etc.
3-year project, starting at Cambridge City Foodbank
“Fruit and Veg on Prescription” with collaborations including farms, allotments, community kitchens.
GP Practice SAGE - Create nurturing supportive group where GPs can meet and share experiences and ideas
Intelligent Health – The College is collaborating with Intelligent Health on projects to offer wellness plus resilience and mental health (all about workplace mental health), green spaces, health, and nature via Zoom.
Membership continues and has brought both finances and raised awareness to the movement. Gross membership income for the year was just under £24,800 a decrease of £2,900 on the previous year.
The College of Medicine is grateful to the ongoing support for its sponsors, donors and members. Donations from Vitabiotics, Nelsons, and a number of private donations have enabled the College to deliver its aims of creating and promoting sustainable healthcare through supporting and delivering educational events to demonstrate “what good looks like” in health creating communities. A private donation continued to provide Three Schools project and Twinned farms project.
A further donation has allowed for the launch of the Future Health Leaders work, which will provide mentorship and leadership training for its first cohort in 2024. 2023 saw the mapping stage.
The College was successful in delivering many collaborative online events and conferences to forward the movement of The College.
The statement of financial activities shows a deficit for the period of £49,616 (2023 surplus: £17,274). General reserves stand at £145,187 (2023: £186,656).
The charity's policy on reserves is to maintain a level of reserves so that the charity holds a level of working capital to operate effectively. The trustees believe twelve months operating costs should achieve this goal and has achieved this with its current level of reserves. The financial stability of the College remains a core focus for the Trustees and Executive and events planned for next financial year will be targeted to cover current issues and areas of topical interest to encourage uptake and participation across a broad spectrum of interested bodies.
The College has received personal donations via The College website.
The growth and development of student led activities will remain as a unique opportunity to further the promotion of interdisciplinary learning among health and social care students and continue to be a focus of the College's energies. A Student Conference was held in February 2024 which was hosted & organised by College of Medicine student members and was well attended and the programme included experts sharing their knowledge to equip them in their future professional roles.
All transactions and projects are subject to authorisation, which includes dual bank signatories and a formal approval process for expenses and payment of invoices. In line with the continuing risk assessment process undertaken at least annually, the Board of Trustees remain confident in the financial governance which is monitored through the production and review of management accounts and risk register. Where appropriate, systems and procedures are in place to mitigate identified risks. External risk in terms of funding is monitored regularly, through the Executive team, Governing Council and Board of Trustees alongside the business planning process which reviews the opportunities to promote diversification of funding through a combination of corporate sponsorship and donations and a focus on core strategic activities that generate further membership and/or revenue. Internal risks are minimised.
The charity is a company limited by guarantee. The charity is registered by the Charity Commission for England and Wales. Under the requirements of the Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Board of Directors are elected to serve a period of three years after which they are electable for two consecutive terms.
The board has the relevant skill mix to support the work of the College, including, medicine, health policy, research, business and consultancy.
All directors are familiar with the practical work of the College. As directors retire and/or new directors join the board, adequate induction and familiarisation will be arranged.
The College has an elected Governing Council comprising up to 20 volunteer members, all practising clinicians who provide the strategic reference and input and sector intelligence. The Council meets at least four times a year (often virtual). The College also has the following committees and advisory councils (members are all volunteers): Scientific Advisory Council, Co-badge/Ethics Committee, Nominations Committee (all ad hoc) and Student Strategy Group (currently moribund).
The Scientific Advisory Council, a group of 20 professors from a broad spectrum of academia all leaders in their field, led by the eminent Professor Stephen Holgate, Medical Research Council Clinical Professor of Immunopharmacology at the Faculty of Medicine, Southampton, UK, continues to feed ideas to the Council. The group meets informally and is called upon to give advice and academic rigour to the College's endeavours.
The trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:
None of the trustees has any beneficial interest in the charity. All of the trustees are members of the charity and guarantee to contribute £1 in the event of wind up. This report is prepared in accordance with the small company regime (Section 419(2)) of the Companies Act 2006. On behalf of the board of trustees.
The trustees' report was approved by the Board of Trustees.
I report to the trustees on my examination of the financial statements of The College of Medicine (the charity) for the year ended 31 March 2024.
As the trustees of the charity (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 (the 2006 Act).
Having satisfied myself that the financial statements of the charity are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s financial statements carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act). In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or
the financial statements do not accord with those records; or
the financial statements do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act 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; or
the financial statements have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).
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 financial statements to be reached.
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
The College of Medicine is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is Nile House, Nile Street, Brighton, BN1 1HW.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity's governing document, the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (“FRS 102”) and the Charities SORP "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)" (effective 1 January 2019). The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The charity has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities not to prepare a Statement of Cash Flows.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
At the time of approving the financial statements, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.
Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors or grantors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.
Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the charity has been notified of the donation, unless performance conditions require deferral of the amount. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.
Resources expended are included in the statement of Financial Activities on an accruals basis inclusive of any VAT that cannot be recovered.
The charitable activities comprise expenditure on the charities primary purposes as described in the Trustees Report ie. to advance health for the public benefit. It includes costs that can be allocated directly to such activities and those indirect costs necessary to support them.
Governance costs relate to the running of the charity and include examiners fees, legal advice for Trustees and costs associated with statutory requirements such as preparation of the annual accounts.
Fixed asset additions with a value under £2,000 are not capitalised.
Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.
The charity has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.
Financial instruments are recognised in the charity's balance sheet when the charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.
Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.
Financial liabilities are derecognised when the charity’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.
In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, the trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.
Seminars, training and events
Membership income
Seminars, training and events
Governance costs includes payments to the independent examiners of £1,350 + VAT (2023: £1,350 + VAT).
None of the trustees (or any persons connected with them) received any remuneration or benefits from the charity during the year. The charity paid £8,012 travel expenses to one trustee during the year (2022: £7,141 to one trustee).
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
The charity is exempt from taxation on its activities because all its income is applied for charitable purposes.
The restricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpended balances of donations and grants held on trust subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used.
During the year a transfer was made between restricted and unrestricted funds in respect of unrestricted income previously treated as restricted.
The unrestricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpended balances of donations and grants which are not subject to specific conditions by donors and grantors as to how they may be used. These include designated funds which have been set aside out of unrestricted funds by the trustees for specific purposes.
Donations without conditions were received from trustees totalling £200 (2023: £nil). There were no other disclosable related party transactions during the year (2023 - none).