15th May 2020
Established in 2019, Brylee Healthcare is a Staffing Agency dedicated to making sure that the health and wellbeing of their staff is a top priority. Their campaign was successfully funded with Crowd2Fund in 22 days and it has been wonderful to see their growth ever since. To get more of an insight into the company's progress, we caught up with the founder himself, Paul Zuzon.
What inspired you to set up Brylee Healthcare?
I have been a Nurse myself for 10 years of which 3 years were spent doing agency shifts around London working for several agencies. Working with big agencies, I just felt like a number. I felt I was not taken care for very well. Simple things like brief descriptions of the Nursing homes I was booked to work in, the routine within that workplace, nature of the residents/patients I will be taking care of, a route to the workplace and more - these were important for me and unfortunately, I was not getting the required support from these agencies. I understand how it feels to be overworked, underpaid and undervalued.
We at Brylee Care believe that the best care comes from within. Which is why we work hard to ensure that our nurses and carers are well looked after, so they can happily provide the high standard of care that their patients deserve. We believe that happy staff equates to happy service and that’s why we made it our priority to make sure that our members get all the care and support they need in order to better serve others because you simply can’t deliver a happy service from unhappy employees.
How have the funds raised through Crowd2Fund been helping you during this pandemic?
It has helped us a lot. We have now purchased a top-level cloud-based employee management and tracking software specifically customised for recruitment businesses like ours. Since we have closed more contracts recently - with the plans of supplying staff nationwide for healthcare companies - both in the public and private sectors, I needed this software for us to expand faster, in a powerful way and produce efficient results.”
How has Brylee been coping during COVID-19 and how are you looking after your staff during these times?
Fortunately, this crisis has had a positive impact on the business. Our weekly hours have increased from 1200 to 1800 since the lockdown. The demand for healthcare workers (Nurses and HCAs) has never been this high in years.
Since the lockdown these were the things we have put in place for our staff:
1) We purchased hundreds of K95 face masks and provided to our staff (for free) for them to use when travelling from home to work using public transport. But we are now in the process of purchasing 3-layer nanotech face masks from a company based in Huddersfield, UK. These would be more ideal and cost-efficient for Brylee Care, plus the Government has advised everyone not to buy medical-grade face masks as these are to be used by NHS healthcare workers. We do appreciate that there is a global shortage of this.
Their website: https://www.masksuk.com
This is a company that creates bespoke tailored suits and has now transitioned to manufacturing facemasks.
Having worked as a Respiratory Therapist myself for 5 years in the Philippines, I perfectly understand the nature of this virus. It is seriously contagious, and I strongly believe that people should wear face masks in public. This has been proven by other countries like Taiwan and Italy amongst others. Healthcare workers using public transport are at very high risk of being exposed to Covid-19. Not all of our staff drive or own cars. 80% of our workforce use the bus and trains to travel to work. Therefore, I decided to provide them with face masks at no cost.
Just imagine them bringing the virus to Nursing Homes and other facilities in the social sector, housing vulnerable elderly residents. The deaths in the care home sector are shocking!
Our Healthcare staff are the driving force of Brylee Care. Hence, it is imperative for me to invest in them. They are like an extension of my family and believe it or not, I have spoken to each and every one of them and have touched their lives in my own little way.
2) On many occasions, we have also given out pizzas to all our Nursing homes. This is our way to say thank you for their dedication and commitment during this difficult time.
3) We have been updating our staff with the most up to date guidance from the government regarding Covid-19. It is of vital importance that they are well informed on the most up to date guidelines and protocols on how to deal with the coronavirus. We have been sharing related articles and journals that are evidenced-based focusing on Covid-19 prevention and control.
4) We have partnered with a private transport company. We provide a car-pooling service in the event that public transport is not available.
What do you envision for the future of Brylee Healthcare?
I envision Brylee Healthcare to be one of the UK's top 100 companies to work for. We also have plans of doing international recruitment. As a Filipino myself, I want to help our fellow nurses in the Philippines to come and work in the UK. I want to showcase that Filipino Nurses are of world-class, which we have proven for the past years.
Any final thoughts about your experience with Crowd2Fund?
I enjoyed the campaign period. Crowd2fund is indeed unique as it gives investors and the companies sourcing out funds that connection and opportunity to grow together. Your customer service is top-notch! I would like to thank you for giving me and my company the chance to be on your platform. Rest assured, your investors have made the right decision to support us. We will do our best to make them proud.
Thank you for helping to give small SMEs and start-up companies like mine that fighting chance of showing the UK and the world that we can make a difference.
