Reflections of a contented man

Not a day over 25……….

But I look older......I’ve been fortunate enough to find some time to escape and reflect on what has been a massive year both personally and professionally. I was fortunate enough to spend 9 months with my friend and mentor Dr Mark Gillett at Nottingham Forest working in a volatile environment under significant pressure. The job didn’t finish me off but the travelling did!!! Massive learning curve, new skills of diplomacy and I eventually moved away from the heat with my dignity intact! Thanks Mark, Neil , Nick , Barnesy, Jake , Nathan and Chris for your support and friendship! I seriously underestimated the effects of 4 hours in a car each day at 56 years old - and without Dr Hussein my respiratory physician I may not have been quite as thankful for my lot as I am right at this minute!!!

The key win in this scenario has been that I pretty well vacated my business and left a very competent team in place to run it- and run it they did- successfully. Thank you Helen, Caroline and Sam for sticking with a big ask and improving the business at the same time. Georgios ,Vicki and to all the team- thanks too. You could say that it was a calculated risk and that I’ve empowered my team, but I’m thinking that they are the drivers now. 

I’m fortunate to have some great people around me – my amazing and intuitive wife Emily, Mark Gillet I’ve mentioned but I’ll add Fraser White – my head sorter -ie he sorts my head out- and Rob Williams – my business mentor. These guys are the cavalry. Always there to take on the challenge. 

When I look back at 25 years of CTC Healthcare and its passage from a parochial physio clinic I’m pretty amazed that although I’ve had my challenges over that time...... I’ve not been declared bankrupt at any point nor has the business been close to going into administration!!.

I’m amazed- because of who we compete against and the relative financial disadvantages that we face 

The NHS is in the process of receiving record levels of funding- ￡20 billion extra- to be precise. They will not need to make a profit nor will they be held accountable for huge losses. Politicians will continue to call for and fund both excellent and dire performance alike with indiscriminate levels of investment. As a physiotherapy service looking to sell to the public on responsiveness and outcome we need to compete with The NHS both on service and staff wages- recent pay awards on the back of this most recent government funding significantly increased the starting salaries of new physiotherapy graduates and other bands. Difficult to compete with when our service can never run at a loss….. On the plus side CTC Healthcare have offered triage services in two local GP clinics for the past 3 years- preceding the call to recruit NHS physio’s to GP triage posts (￡20 billion helps)…… Whether we keep these contracts now will be interesting ….

Nuffield Health is another provider that presents challenges for us. Despite the fact that we both refer to their excellent imaging units and specialists and take referrals from their Physio team. 

“Nuffield Health is a not-for-profit organisation limited by guarantee, without share capital. We must behave like a not-for-profit organisation and follow the rules of having this status.

We are a trading charity and we provide an important public benefit. We don’t fundraise. We charge for our services and then use our profits to invest in programmes that will further drive public benefit and help us reach more people.” (Downloaded from Nuffield Health website 29/5/19)

We benefit from the Nuffield who refer clients in our area to us, but they also have contracts with a number of the major insurers who would normally come direct to us at our (profitable) client rate. We accept a far less competitive rate to be a provider on their panel- they have collective market place ‘clout’. We also have lost well qualified staff to the Nuffield who can offer far better packages to their team facilitated in part by their non for profit status. Non for profit or not their team are voraciously efficient in maximising income. Perhaps I’m jealous- maybe I need to look at our own legal status..

Now- don’t get me wrong- I was the beneficiary of a great respiratory medicine service at the Nuffield in the past months and had my bowel screening done by the NHS in March having reached my tender age. I reflect that maybe I need to be a far shrewder, better business man or go and join my competitors/ associates. But you hopefully can see where I’m coming from …..

We’ve never had any major funding – only our saviours Barclays Bank ( thank you Julian Wilshaw) - but we have looked after a huge number of clients in the past 25 years. We are often a front line service for identifying potentially life threatening conditions and we provide a safety net for those that may not have reached a successful conclusion to their care.. 

CTC Healthcare have been an integral part of the community both for private clients and businesses for 25 years. My overwhelming feeling is one of pride and the knowledge that we are a force for the good. We go beyond the expectations of many and our team understand the anguish of unresolved episodes of care. We look to minimise waiting times, refer to specialist services and maintain excellent communication links with our local medical practitioners. 

I’m up for another few years yet, but I’m thinking that my team have the edge on me…………