It is BHSF's aim to be a responsible employer and a good member of the community.
We believe strongly that a business like ours should act in an ethical and socially-responsible way and that we should put something back into society as part and parcel of our business operations. In the 2006 Sunday Times 100 Best Small Companies survey, our highest-scoring factor was 'giving something back'.
Our history, from our foundation in 1873, is one of service to the community. An eminent Birmingham surgeon, Joseph Sampson Gamgee, proposed that in addition to the annual Hospital Sunday, when churches gave all their collections to the voluntary hospitals, there should also be a Hospital Saturday with special collections. In particular, he suggested that workers be invited to work overtime on one Saturday afternoon in the year, especially to donate their earnings to the Birmingham Hospital Saturday Fund for distribution to voluntary hospitals. From these modest beginnings, similar organisations sprang up in other cities and towns and there are now over six million people insured under schemes which began in this way.