General Healthcare Group
General Healthcare Group describes itself as 'the leading provider of independent health care services in the UK', with 67 hospitals and clinics, 9200 staff, and 7000 consultants. Its main businesses include BMI Healthcare (formerly AMI, a US hospital chain that arrived in the UK in 1970).[1]
Contents
Ownership
Private equity firm BC Partners sold General Healthcare Group to a consortium led by South Africa’s leading private hospital group Netcare, and private equity firms Apax Partners, London & Regional and the Brockton funds in 2006 for 2.2 billion pounds.[2]
The acquisition of GHG by Netcare, "provides Netcare with a clear leadership position in the UK, which Netcare describes as "one of the largest and most attractive healthcare markets globally."[3]
Strategy for expansion in the UK
A press release in April 2005, following Netcare’s acquisition of control of GHG, described the company's strategy for expansion in the UK:
- "We have targeted the UK healthcare market for expansion, as the long-term demographic trends and prospects for development of the private acute care market as well as partnership with the NHS, offer significant future growth potential”[4]
Healthcare reform in UK
GHG believes that the Government should "incentivise people to pay directly for healthcare themselves," and that it "should also remove the barriers to people topping up their NHS allowance if they wished to buy additional services or treatment." In a speech at the Reform Health Conference in July 2010, CEO Adrian Fawcett called for "greater self-responsibility in healthcare", saying "it is important that those that can afford to pay for themselves should be encouraged to if that makes financial sense to the Exchequer."[5]
A press release detailing GHG's 'Annual Results for the year ended 30 September 2010' – and headlined: Sustained growth, expanding footprint and on the cusp of a new era – outlines the 'Clear opportunity derived from NHS White Paper' as follows:
- Consultation paper indicates significant additional opportunities for private/NHS partnership
- Added pressure on NHS funding points to return of self pay and insured lives over time
- Increased customer choice based on quality and availability.[6]
Adrian Fawcett, CEO, commented: "We are entering a new, exciting era, driven by the forthcoming healthcare reform that will ultimately change, to our benefit, the landscape in which we operate.”
Lobbying
It is a member of the H5 lobby group.
It employs lobbying firm College Hill for extra 'public affairs' support.[7]
People
- Sir Peter Gershon. Chairman of GHG. Gershon became a member of the Conservative Party's Public Sector Productivity Advisory Board, which, in the run up to the 2010 General Election, claimed that savings of £12 billion in spending could be collectively saved across all Government departments without affecting the quality of front line services.[8]
- Adrian Fawcett, Chief Executive of General Healthcare Group. Fawcett tweeted in September 2010 "I am looking forward to being in Birmingham for the Tory Conference next week and bumping into a few people."[9] Fawcett is a non-executive director at the Department for Work and Pensions.[10]
Contacts
Head Office
4 Thameside Centre
Kew Bridge Road
Brentford
Middlesex TW8 0HF
Url: www.generalhealthcare.co.uk
References
- ↑ GHG, About us, accessed October 2010
- ↑ Bloomberg, Dec 2009
- ↑ Apax Partners press release, Network Healthcare Holdings Limited acquires leading private hospital group in UK, 25 April 2005
- ↑ Apax Partners press release, Network Healthcare Holdings Limited acquires leading private hospital group in UK, 25 April 2005
- ↑ GHG Healthcare leader calls for fair playing field to deliver Government’s healthcare plans, July 2010
- ↑ GHG Annual Results 2010, accessed December 2010
- ↑ APPC register, June to August 2010
- ↑ Tory adviser's firm stands to benefit from cuts, Guardian, 7 April 2010
- ↑ Adrian Fawcett, Twitter, accessed October 2010
- ↑ DWP, Non-executive Directors, accessed Dec 2010
