Inverness’s successful charity The Oxygen Works has ambitious plans despite challenges of economic climate in the Highlands and beyond

A successful local charity which has been helping keep Highlanders “healthy and living well" for more than three decades has ambitious plans for the future despite the challenges of the current economic climate.

The Oxygen Works, which is based in Burnett Road in Inverness, first launched back in 1992 when it was formed as an Inverness multiple-sclerosis support and treatment group set up by four people with lived experience of MS themselves.

But since those early days it has expanded its work, resulting in a name change to The Oxygen Works as it has widened its scope of operation to cover a larger range of medical conditions than ever before.

Today it has grown to offer a range of support and therapies at greatly reduced, subsidised prices - including oxygen therapy, physiotherapy, complementary therapies and an accessible gym.

And as well as its wider scope, it has also expanded its reach to meet not just existing demand, but also new health challenges as they come along.

Its CEO, Leigh-Ann Little, has been with the charity for almost a decade and has seen that growth first hand.

She explained: "Today we support all ages and stages. We help people to live well. These include people who've maybe been given a diagnosis of MS, but increasingly over the years we've been seeing young people of working age, with the likes of long-Covid who we have helped rehabilitate back into the workplace and to live full meaningful lives - both in society and work and family life."

The size of its reach has really blossomed in recent years. Today it handles 7000 appointments a year for its core services - of which 4500 are for the hyperbaric oxygen chamber that gives the organisation its name and what Leigh-Ann refers to as their “USP” or unique selling point.

“We supported over 450 individuals last year alone, and this year are on target to support even more. To put that into context, we received more than 120 new enquiries between mid-January to the end of March alone.

“So demand is exponentially increasing for the services we provide.”

She believes that is due in part to the increasing pressures being placed on stretched NHS services, but also something broader within society.

“I don’t see us as an alternative [to NHS clinical services], because we work in conjunction with them. but I think people are seeking other ways to manage their health and wellbeing - particularly where they have been given a diagnosis with something that could impact them over the longer term.”

And this has translated not just into more people seeking out The Oxygen Works, but from further afield as well.

“It's really across the region, it's not just Inverness,” she said. “Inverness is still where our greatest number of clients come from but we also have clients travelling from the likes of Lewis, Harris, Orkney, from through into the Aberdeenshire direction - so we really are covering a broad range.

“We even have clients that travel here from Germany, and there was some who even journeyed from India.”

This continued growth shows just how far The Oxygen Works has come since its beginnings back in 1992.

But despite seeing that acorn grow and develop massively over the past three decades, the charity has lost none of its aspiration to help people to live well.

And it has one foot firmly planted in the future.

Leigh-Ann explains that the charity has a range of ambitions.

As well as continuing to grow to meet demand, medium to longer term intentions include hopes for a purpose-built new hub within Inverness, as well as satellite work that means people who currently have to travel from further afield will not have so far to come to access the support they need. This has been the aspiration since before the pandemic, however the challenges in the funding landscape has meant that a capital build will be on hold until this looks more feasible.

They are also in the process of adding further treatment facilities to meet demand.

But as well as this they are also aware of the challenging economic climate at the moment, and are taking steps to ensure the charity continues to grow and support its clients.

“While we raise a lot of funds through events and donations, grant funds are diminishing due to smaller pots and greater competition for them,” said Leigh-Ann.

“What we are seeing at the moment is that people with long-term health issues are also being squeezed. We are seeing more people coming forward and saying that they would like to make a contribution but just can’t.”

She added that businesses are also feeling the pinch, as too the charity, because of cost pressures like increased National Insurance contributions.

“We’re facing the toughest economic climate that we’ve operated in.”

With that in mind, they are looking at developing additional fundraising through a mixture of small-scale events within their Inverness base, to larger roles within high-profile events.

“Things we’ve been trying to do to close these gaps are working on things like with Sandie Gordon from Candles from the Croft [a Lairg-based high-quality fragrances business] to hold smaller fundraising events that allow us to offer something where people pay or donate to attend, but crucially also lets us hold accessible events in our premises where our clients can come and engage in creative things that they enjoy and have told us they would like to do more of.

“We are looking to hold more small events like this - maybe up to 20 people at a time - and then hold them in our building.”

Other fundraising opportunities are larger scale, such as the news they are the nominated charity for the Northern Star Country Music Festival, which is bringing major acts like The Shires to Inverness’s Northern Meeting Park this autumn.

“We were absolutely delighted to be nominated as the charity for the Northern Star festival,” said Leigh-Ann. “It’s a brand new event coming to Inverness which is an exciting thing and we want to see more of coming to the north of Scotland.

“And it also gives us an opportunity to showcase who we are and what we do and the impact we have to a much, much broader audience. So this will help to grow awareness and hopefully help us to raise some much needed funding as well.”

For more information about The Oxygen Works and its range of support, visit https://theoxygenworks.com or call 01463 240365.

The charity is also interested in hearing from businesses and potential sponsorship partners who might wish to help it as it navigates the current economic climate and seeks to continue its growth well into the future.

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