NHS Arden & GEM has been awarded the Silver level of the Social Value Quality Mark® (SVQM) – recognising significant achievement in growing and embedding social value in its work.
The SVQM is the UK’s national standard for organisations that benefit society. It offers four levels of accreditation, each recognising advances in how an organisation creates, measures and reports on its positive social impacts.
Social value includes areas such as employee health and wellbeing, environmental sustainability, support for local communities and encouraging innovative ways of working.
Arden & GEM gained level 1 (Bronze) accreditation in 2023, reflecting its initial commitment and pledges to create positive impact for employees, communities and the environment.
The step up to Silver has been achieved after a successful audit, which highlighted “outstanding support for staff health and wellbeing” and “thought leadership in social impact” as two of the ways in which Arden & GEM met the higher award criteria.
The audit report praised senior leadership’s strong backing for social value initiatives, and other key achievements:
- Initiatives to reduce carbon, including a sustainable travel policy, green champions and recycling all IT equipment
- Social value training for procurement staff and sharing best practice with other NHS organisations
- Proactive volunteering approach, with roles for mental health first aiders and wellbeing champions
- Excellent social impact reporting and internal communication about social value activity.
Becky Jones, Social Value Specialist at Arden & GEM, said:
“We have placed social value at the heart of our processes for a number of years. Although the requirements for the Silver level were quite a jump from Bronze, we were able to highlight some policies and processes that the auditors considered outstanding. These include our staff health and wellbeing programmes, which include NHS Arden & GEM being a proud signatory to the Armed Forces Covenant as well as a Menopause Friendly Employer.
“Our focus now is to cement our Silver commitments and build on them over the next two years as we progress onto Gold. This will require us to further stretch ourselves, our suppliers and our partners so that we develop our stakeholder partnerships and social value outcomes.”
Richard Dickins, MD at Social Value Quality Mark CIC said:
“In achieving Silver, Arden & GEM has taken steps to embed social value within its own operations as well as to spread best practice through the NHS.
“Social value can be a powerful tool in the attraction and retention of healthcare staff and an enabler for better health outcomes. This award is testament to the team’s leadership of positive change in the industry.”
Read more about Arden & GEM's social value journey.