Read: Levelling up report recognises PHP’s social impact

 Primary Health Properties (PHP) has launched a report with the Purpose Coalition which examines its current impact on levelling up and how it can go further in the future.

The Levelling Up Impact Report has been developed in partnership with the Purpose Coalition and benchmarks PHP’s work against an innovative set of 14 Levelling Up Goals. It identifies the areas where it is already making a positive impact and makes recommendations as to what more it can do to deliver equality of opportunity.

Launched in 2021, the Levelling Up Goals provide a framework for organisations to identify gaps in access to opportunity, covering key life stages from early years to adulthood as well as the main areas where barriers may exist that prevent people from achieving their potential, for example good health and wellbeing or sustainable infrastructure. They also provide the means to be able to benchmark progress going forward.

PHP was established 26 years ago to invest in modern, primary care properties in the UK. Its portfolio now serves around 5.8 million patients - 8.7% of the UK population – and its sites are the first point of contact with the NHS for patients at the start of their journey. It also has more than 800 businesses in its supply chain. It is therefore an intrinsic part of many communities and well placed to make a positive social impact on several of the Levelling Up Goals.

The report highlights PHP’s key strengths which include:

Goal 8 Good health and wellbeing

PHP invests in primary care facilities, mostly in residential areas and in parts of the country where there are high levels of social deprivation, a high level of healthcare needs and poorer outcomes. It brings modern, flexible workspaces and first-rate health services into communities that need them most. It has a wider role than just the provision of property and supports social prescribing as a more proactive and preventative form of healthcare as well as other wider community-focused work.

Goal 11 Infrastructure for opportunity

PHP’s portfolio is different from traditional property investment houses. It targets locations in challenged communities, including coastal towns and parts of the North of England, where new investment can deliver the most impact. Many also operate as community hubs where additional interventions take place to support healthcare provision.

Goal 13 Harnessing the energy transition

Through its extensive portfolio, PHP has the capacity to impact on built environment considerations across its primary care developments.  Alongside its aim of creating its first net zero building by 2026, it is also working towards improving the already-strong energy performance rating of its properties.  

As well as highlighting these key strengths, the report outlines recommendations for further action that PHP can take to extend its social impact. These include undertaking close mapping of the correlation between economic and health inequalities and primary care investment to ensure effective provision, playing its part in the revitalisation of the high street and town centres though the repurposing of properties for example and developing mechanisms to measure the effectiveness of its CSR investments and capture purpose beyond traditional outcomes.

Today’s event also marked the launch of Healthier Communities - a campaign to ensure GP's surgeries, pharmacies and other local healthcare services are located within town or shopping centres. This has the benefit of making healthcare services easily accessible for local people, and of revitalising and levelling up local communities. 

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, recently announced in the Queen’s Speech,  places improving high streets and town centres at the forefront of the government’s priorities, giving local communities power to free up vacant properties. 

Chief Executive Officer of PHP, Harry Hyman, said: 

"Working with Justine and the Purpose Coalition, PHP's Impact Report demonstrates how our company is helping to deliver the government's key priorities - levelling up, and improving healthcare outcomes. As we recover from the backlog from the COVID-19 pandemic, PHP's mission is to support the NHS and other healthcare providers by being a leading investor in modern, primary care premises that supports regeneration and is located conveniently for local people.”

Chair of the Purpose Coalition, Rt Hon Justine Greening, said: 

“When a business fully commits to supporting levelling up, it needs a universal effort spanning every level and department of the organisation. It cannot be the sole responsibility of the HR function, ESG lead or directors. Every member of staff should be encouraged to contribute to the employer’s impactful activities and strategy. Through our work at the Purpose Coalition, we are seeing an increasing number of major employers, in a wide range of sectors, realising the benefits of embracing levelling up principles. 

“I’m delighted to be launching Primary Health Properties’ (PHP) Levelling Up Impact Report with its CEO, Harry Hyman. The link between deprivation and poor health outcomes is becoming increasingly clear and it is a stark reality that, even in a developed nation like the UK, where you are born and live can affect your life expectancy and the length of life lived in good health. Primary care is a crucial part of the solution. By investing in local primary care centres we can ensure accessibility to health care services in the areas that need them most, as well as a more proactive and preventative  approach to healthcare in communities. 

With its reach into some of the most disadvantaged communities, PHP is playing a leading role in levelling up the healthcare sector - increasing access to healthcare and encouraging a community first approach. Its support of the Healthier Communities campaign demonstrates its commitment to changing lives for the better in some of our poorest communities. ”

Chair of the Purpose Business Coalition, Lord Walney said: 

“I’m delighted to attend the event in Parliament today to launch PHP’s own plan for levelling up the vital primary healthcare sector. 

The urgent need to level up the UK comes not just from economic or educational necessity.

It also means closing inequalities in terms of health and wellbeing. Levelling up is not just about creating accessible opportunities to get on in life for everyone; it also means closing the health inequalities gap.

Employers like PHP are helping to contribute to this by taking up the levelling up cause. As a company that puts purpose at the heart of the operation, PHP is a trailblazer. Britain needs every employer to rise to the levelling up challenge, reaching into our most disadvantaged communities to find the talent we need to build back even better.”

The full report is available here: https://www.purpose-coalition.org/impact-reports/primary-health-properties