About us
GamCare is the leading provider of information, advice and support for anyone affected by gambling harms. We operate the National Gambling Helpline, provide structured support for anyone who is harmed by gambling, create awareness about safer gambling and treatment, and encourage an effective approach to safer gambling within the gambling industry. GamCare was founded in 1997 by Paul Bellringer.
- Read our Anti-Racism Statement
Our Ambitions
We have worked with staff and service users to identify four major strategic ambitions which will drive our work forwards in pursuit of our mission.
- Gambling harms are widely recognised and prevented.
- Universal access to effective tools and support.
- Universal access to caring, evidence-led and integrated treatment.
- GamCare’s work is trusted, valued and effective.
Our Values
We are:
COLLABORATIVE – Achieving more together
AMBITIOUS – Embracing future growth
LEARNING – Harnessing knowledge
LEADING – Shaping the agenda
Governance at GamCare
At GamCare, we are committed to delivering good quality, effective services within a robust framework of governance and quality assurance. Some of the ways we deliver our governance framework are as follows:
Our Board of Trustees ultimately oversee our governance. The Board is responsible for agreeing the organisations strategy and delegates responsibility for execution of that strategy to the CEO. In turn, the CEO delegates to our senior management team, and the Board monitors the outcomes of these delegations.
Alongside our Board, we have two sub-committees which are responsible for different aspects of our Quality Assurance and Governance Framework. The Audit & Risk sub-committee oversees all corporate governance systems. The Clinical and Quality Governance sub-committee scrutinises all areas of clinical work undertaken by GamCare and is chaired by a senior clinician. GamCare’s CEO and Directors are accountable to these committees and provide regular progress reports against our strategy, business plan, quality assurance, and targets and key performance indicators.
Our teams and commissioned partners work within clearly defined systems to ensure we deliver safe and effective services. This includes an overarching policy framework, as well as practice guidance. These are regularly reviewed and updated with the latest legislation, policies and best practice, to ensure quality across our service provision. We report on our activities both monthly and quarterly, to our commissioners (GambleAware) and our Board. Any serious incidents or safeguarding concerns are reported promptly, investigated, and any lessons learnt from these are disseminated both internally and across our partner network as appropriate.
Our staff are recruited against the skills and competencies needed for the role, and they receive training relevant to their role on an ongoing basis. This includes mandatory safeguarding training, as well as continuing professional development in relation to emerging issues relevant to the field. We provide regular individual supervision and an annual appraisal process. All teams have regular team meetings and our clinical teams also engage in team supervision which includes practice development.
We incorporate feedback from our beneficiaries via our Service User Panel, our online Forum, client satisfaction surveys, complaints and compliments, focus groups and consultation about key issues across all areas of our service delivery. We also intend to introduce an annual beneficiary survey as well as further developing our strategy for service user engagement.
Our Model of Care is informed by the best evidence available, and is continuously reviewed, considering emerging good practice. We review our data, outcomes and client experience regularly to ensure our services remain as effective as possible. We contribute to research studies where appropriate and share research outcomes with our teams and beneficiaries.
We aim to be responsive in our service delivery, to ensure our beneficiaries get the help they need as quickly as possible, and to ensure we are adapting as new evidence, legislation or best practice emerges.
We continuously review what we do, regularly auditing our activities, and we adapt and improve where needed. This includes the activities of our partner network. We are accredited with external bodies including The Helplines Partnership and the British Assessment Bureau (ISO 9001).
