CANCER

Bloodwise 9
STRATEGIC REPORT
GOAL 1
Optimising patient
impact
This has been an unprecedented year for optimising
patient impact.
We’ve made one of our largest ever investments in
research of over £32 million, including a £6.3 million
commitment to our Trials Acceleration Programme.
We’ve seized every opportunity to be a voice of
influence for patients.
We’ve restructured and reviewed our patient services
– and as the year ended we appointed our first ever
Patient Experience Director, who brings with her 18
years of working with breast cancer patients.
We’ve also reported on the findings of our first phase
of research into patient need, shared the findings with
other organisations and shaped priority responses
to be delivered in the year ahead which we believe
will begin to clearly define a sector for blood cancer
patients.
In thinking about how we optimise patient impact,
we’ve looked very carefully at our reserves policy to
see if we can make all of our assets work even harder
for patients.
A traditional definition of reserves based on net assets
(free reserves) compares total assets to total liabilities,
without regard for the timeframe in which those
liabilities will become payable.
Our grant commitments are long-term, recognised as
liabilities in one year but only payable up to three years
later. The challenge for us therefore is not do we have
sufficient assets to pay all of our liabilities, but have
we got enough assets now to pay the liabilities that are
due now.
In this respect, liquidity is a more important measure
than net assets. For this reason, cash and investments
are a more appropriate definition of reserves than net
assets.
The reduction in our net assets is a deliberately
managed position to enable us to commit more to
research, more quickly. By the end of the next financial
year we plan to have a negative net asset position,
which is wholly consistent with our reserves policy on
page 38.
Bloodwise trading as Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research Company limited by guarantee 738089
Registered charity 216032 (England & Wales) SC037529 (Scotland)