Reaching The Finals of UK Social Enterprise Awards 2015

With over 300 entries from around the UK, it is great news that Chime Social Enterprise have been selected as a finalist in the health and care category along with 7 other social enterprises. The award ceremony will take place in London in late November. The UK Social Enterprise Committee who judged the 300 entries remarked on the quality of applications as 'outstanding'. The committee went on to say " the shortlisting was incredibly hard due to the amazing achievements in the last year within the social enterprise sector. Congratulations to all on the list".

Hearing loss continues to increase across the UK, and Chime Social Enterprise has set about making a difference in becoming a leading not for profit company dedicated to providing  excellence in hearing services to those with hearing loss.

The nomination as a finalist in the 2015 national social enterprise awards shortlist is a testament to the dedication and commitment of the whole Chime team who work in 15 locations across Devon. 

Jonathan Parsons, Managing Director of Chime said "I am really delighted for the whole Chime Team that we have been shortlisted as a finalist for these national awards".

Jonathan went on to say "I firmly believe that we have a business model that can help to maintain the highest quality hearing care in the UK both via the NHS and also in offering 'not for profit' quality commercial products too. We hope being shortlisted will help to showcase Chime more widely across the UK and beyond".

2014/15 has indeed been a very busy year for the Chime team. Highlights included opening a new clinic outside our existing catchment area accessing some 250,000 people in the nearby Torbay area. We have also designed and delivered a new modern 2,400 sq ft 5 clinic room hearing centre called the Chime Hearing Centre in Exeter city centre that sets a new standard in high street hearing services . This is the first time a not for profit hearing service has gone onto the high street rather than reside in hospital accomodation.

In November 2014 we exhibited at British Audiology Association BAA 2014 for the first time to tell our story to over 800 fellow audiology professionals. This generated over 50 new contacts and departments wanting to learn more about Chime.

Perhaps one of our proudest achievements in the last year was to form a new strategic supplier partnership with the leading hearing aid supplier Phonak, to bring the latest discreet, digital hearing aids to our patients. This ground breaking deal benefits our hearing loss patients with the best digital aids.

A core team of Chime staff have also been busy ensuring our business and clinical processes are of the highest standard. We have been audited and are pending an award for UKAS IQIPS accreditation for all our services. The auditors remarked on our ‘professional, exemplary clinical and patient focused services’ The Chime audit was also their most complex approval yet due to our number of locations and our range of services. More news on this will follow shortly. 

More recently we shared news that we have have partnered with a leading UK charity Hearing Dogs for Deaf People so our staff and patients can work together to raise funds for this groundbreaking hearing charity that provide trained dogs to help people with hearing loss better connect with their world.

So these are just a few of our highlights and have helped us be recognised as a leading health and care social enterprise and be selected as a finalist in these prestigious awards.