A New Vision for Healthcare

UK’s largest healthcare charity heralds a new vision for healthcare

Nuffield Hospitals, the UK’s largest healthcare charity, re-brands this month as Nuffield Health. The change of name reflects Nuffield Health’s new vision for healthcare and comes in the wake of the biggest programme of change in the organisation’s 51 year history.  

Keeping people healthy, not just fixing problems

Nuffield Health has been repositioning rapidly to offer services that go far beyond the provision of hospital-based treatment. Already the leading provider of employee health and wellbeing services and of mobile theatres supporting the NHS, the acquisition of Cannons Health & Fitness late last year was a bold step toward more consumer-oriented health services.

David Mobbs, Group Chief Executive, says “This is about trying to do something different — Nuffield Health offers services that address public health needs and delivers them in a way that consumers will find attractive and engaging. Our fitness and wellbeing services help people to improve and maintain their health rather than waiting for problems to occur.”

Focus on individual consumer needs

The re-brand also shows a renewed focus on individual customers that is not common in healthcare.

“In the future all healthcare providers will have to engage people on their own terms and treat them like consumers who have choices,” says Mobbs.

“People want to look good and feel positive; they want to delay the ageing process; they want to remain active and independent throughout their lives; and when they encounter problems, they want quick and effective treatment. Nuffield Health will be there to help at every stage.”

Charitable values, businesslike approach

“When we say ‘it’s all about you’ we mean it”, Mobbs continues. “There are no shareholders to serve, no political masters to please. If the customer is happier and healthier as a result of our service then we have succeeded, if not then we’ve failed.

“Compared to the NHS, we’re relatively small and agile and can implement change quickly. We’re also independent of political influence so we can plan for the longer term.

“Most other independent hospitals and health clubs are owned by private equity so they have demanding short-term profit targets and are saddled with huge debts. We’re not. We’re very proud to be a charity and a not-for-profit organisation — frankly I don’t think that there’s a better model for healthcare.

Culmination of extensive change

“We’ve run excellent hospitals across the country for fifty years and continue to do so. But we can’t stand still. As a charity operating on a not-for-profit basis we have some significant advantages and we also have an obligation to maximise the benefit that we deliver to the public. “I’ve been here as Chief Executive for five years now and the change that we’ve accomplished in that time has been stunning. Change is not always comfortable, but I believe that our people react very positively to new ways of working when they can see why we’re doing it. I’ve spoken with staff across the Group over the last few weeks and they’re excited about what Nuffield Health means to their customers and the role that they can play.

Positive action on public health issues

Mobbs concludes, “Nuffield Health can improve the health of Britain by focusing on each individual’s needs and motivations. Many of the most serious issues that we face today in healthcare arise from our lifestyles. We’ve put ourselves in a great position to help tackle some of those issues.”

Ends

Media enquiries to:

Pippa Cox, Nuffield Health press office 020 8339 5868 / 07767 408376

Steve Marinker, Citigate Dewe Rogerson on 020 7282 2841 / 07779 031936

Notes for editors

1.  Nuffield Health is a charity that provides services for better health

• We help people to get healthy and stay healthy, to identify and manage their individual health risks, and we provide sophisticated diagnosis and treatment for any problems that occur.
• People can access our services through a national network of facilities from hospitals to health clubs. We also support the NHS and other healthcare providers with a unique fleet of mobile theatres and diagnostic units.
• Nuffield Health is a charity, combining our social values with the best disciplines of business to maximise our benefit to the public. As a charity, our success is defined by our ability to improve people’s health. As a business, our success is driven by our customers’ satisfaction.
• We are independent of government and have no shareholders, so we can think for the long term and reinvest all financial surplus we make for our customers’ benefit.
• Established in 1957, we have served millions of people for over 50 years. But we know that every customer is unique, and we treat them that way.

• Nuffield Health is the UK’s largest healthcare charity, with a turnover of £506million in 2007.
• In 2007 we helped to improve the health of over 750,000 people.
• We employ 11,000 staff, including over 4,000 clinical staff. We support the practice of over 6,000 consultants covering a full range of specialities and treatments.
• We deliver services from over 200 facilities including Nuffield Health Hospitals, Cannons Health Clubs, Courtney’s Sports & Leisure Centres, specialist health assessment centres and fitness and wellbeing facilities embedded in over 100 client company sites.

2.  Organisational changes

Nuffield Health has a new Group structure, incorporating the familiar parts of the business, and a reorganised executive team with two new appointments.

David Mobbs - Group Chief Executive 

Trish Cassidy - Chief Executive - Hospitals, Nuffield Hospitals

Andrew Allen - Chief Executive - Diagnostics, Nuffield Diagnostics - Mobile Services, Vanguard Healthcare (mobile services)

Chris Jessop - Chief Executive – Nuffield Proactive Health & Cannons, Nuffield Proactive Health, Cannons Health & Fitness

Jack Jones - Group Financial Director 

Dr Andrew Jones - Group Medical Director 

Andrew Lunt - Group Business Services Director 

Adrian Downing - Group Strategy & Business Development Director 

Trish Cassidy becomes the first Chief Executive of the Hospitals Division, having previously been Group Commercial Director. Trish has over 25 years of experience in healthcare, having started her career as a registered general nurse in the NHS before entering NHS general management.

Adrian Downing becomes Group Strategy and Business Development Director, having previously held the post of Associate Commercial Director. Adrian joined Nuffield Health in 2004 from AT Kearney Management Consultants, and has extensive previous management experience in healthcare and financial services.  

3.  The Nuffield Health brand is launched this month in Nuffield Health’s Hospitals and Diagnostics divisions. Key features include:

• A £2.5m marketing campaign promoting hospital services including weight management and women’s health which will run through June and July, beginning in some media this week. This uses the new brand name and colours and emphasises Nuffield Health’s brand values.
• New patient literature written in an easier to understand format based on extensive consumer research
• New signage
• New livery for mobile units