At our AGM on 25 April 2024 there were a number of presentations.
For those who could not attend, we thought you might be interested to see some of the facts and figures presented by our CEO, Doro Passantes.
Membership Numbers:
West of England MS Therapy Centre
Jan 2023 198 subscription renewals.
Picked up an average of 9 new members per month after that.
Total 299 + 14 lifelong members + 29 Centre Friends = 342 individuals
In 2024 we are on track to raising our member numbers, we are already on 252 members, and we are only 4 months into the year.
Bristol Therapy Centre
73 existing subscribers through the trading company in Jan 23
Picked up an average of 7 new subscribers per month. = 146
Member Breakdown by Gender and Age
61% of all Centre Users were women.
Through the Charity WOEMSTC more of our members are 60 + followed by 40 -60 yr olds.
Through the BTC, the main age group for males is 18 - 40 yrs of age and for females 40 -60.
Our Reach
The picture is very similar to our reach in 2022.
The two main areas Service Users come from are Bristol and South Glos.
All other numbers have followed last year’s trend and the percentage breakdown is remarkably similar to 2022.
Interestingly further afield include 14 people, 7 from Wiltshire ,4 from Devon, 2 from London and 1 from Cheshire
Conditions people have
Across the Centre people with MS make up 34% of all service users.
Next largest group are those with other neurological conditions, which includes Stroke Survivors, people with fibromyalgia / Parkinson’s / FND /Brain Injury amongst others. They make up 28% of all Service Users.
18% of people who attend the Centre have Long Covid. Symptoms can be neurological: fatigue/brain fog.
Out of those who attend the Centre and are living with or have survived Cancer – the largest numbers are those with Breast and Prostate Cancer.
Oxygen Department
Out of the 281 people who had oxygen in 2023, 108 were new to the therapy.
26% are people with MS. In 2019 people with MS made up 45% of those attending for oxygen.
In 2023 there was a big surge in those coming to us with Long Covid which amounted to as many people having oxygen with Long Covid as those with MS.
There was also an Increase in those attending with Musculo skeletal issues inc. broken bones and soft tissue injury.
Physio Department
In Physio people with MS still account for 41% of all those supported in the department.
Overall neurological conditions account for over 80% of all those who attend the physio gym either for a 1-2-1 or group session.
Therapy Numbers
It has taken us to up to 2023 to get back to the pre-pandemic numbers in 2019 and in fact both in oxygen and in physio we have delivered more sessions to more people.
We increased our Isobaric Oxygen station to 3 places, one more than in 2022.
We expect these numbers to build in 2024.
Physiotherapy 1-2-1 sessions were up despite staffing challenges in the department.
We also set up our own Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) Clinic.
New Exercise classes for groups like Paul’s Place and building relationships with other organisations like Rugged Interactive, who provided the Cardio Wall (we want to do more of this over 2024)
Complementary Therapies: Room for growth. Foot Health / Acupuncture numbers are currently low.
Clinics: still not back up to pre-pandemic levels these include the Bladder & Bowel Wellbeing clinic, Citizen s Advice which is delivered in partnership with the MS Society and the Botox for Rehabilitation Clinic.
Sept 23 saw the re-introduction of counselling with Sasha. This service has received very positive feedback from members.
These figures give us an insight into how the Centre is performing as well as a comparison with previous years. Which in turn helps us to focus on the future direction of the Brightwell.
We hope you have enjoyed looking at these figures and that they have given you a greater understanding about the numbers involved regarding members, their conditions and the therapies received.