The largest GP practices business in the North West, SSP Health, is gearing up to scale its organisation nationally, building on success in 2022. An ambitious new-acquisition strategy will be implemented to achieve yet more grown, with plans to add to its 155,000 patients, 400 staff, 100 doctors and practices in 40 locations across the north west.
To galvanise this positive start, the business has recently made a raft of senior appointments including new CEO, Andy Scaife, who brings a wealth of experience and a fundamental understanding of the healthcare industry to his new role. Previously CEO of O’Neill Patient Solicitors in Manchester, as well as Quantum Pharma plc, he has a proven track record in helping businesses prepare themselves for the challenges of rapid, successful growth while bringing a fresh mindset to the business.
The pioneering company has ambitions to be recognised as the leading player in GP-led primary care provision. This will be built on a successful model of streamlining practice management processes through its centralised support services to free up GPs, nurses and practice teams to focus on delivering the best quality healthcare to patients how and when they want to access it.
Also joining the leadership team is Mary Delaney who joins as Chief Financial Officer bringing wide-ranging experience within large private and listed organisations and (more recently) PE backed companies. Coming from tech hosting and cloud solutions business ANS Group, Delaney will drive the strategic direction and financial planning of the organisation as it looks to grow
Amanda Carey-McDermott also joined the business in the last year as Chief Transformation Officer and has now been appointed Managing Director. She brings extensive experience in health care transformation, digital and operational excellence, with a career spanning a wide range of corporate and central government organisations and is currently a non-executive director for national housing and care provider, Guinness Partnership.
Demonstrating its commitment to this innovative model, SSP Health recently trialled a centralised call centre for some of its practices in Wigan. The call centre trial has been hugely successful, significantly increasing call answering rates and speed, taking the pressure off practice teams, enabling them to spend more time on patient care. The call centre will be rolled out across all of SSP’s practices over the next few months.
Andy Scaife, CEO SSP Health said “It’s an exciting time to be joining SSP Health. In direct response to challenges with healthcare resource in the UK, SSP Health’s mission is to drive efficiencies and innovation in general practice to deliver sustainable GP services for the future. We believe that our model of freeing up time for GPs, nurses and practice teams to deliver excellent patient care is the future of general practice in the UK and something we aim to roll out nationwide. We look forward to many more practices joining the SSP family.”
The news of SSP Health’s strong growth trajectory comes as healthcare services in the UK are facing a serious, ongoing skills shortage and recruitment crisis, requiring a fundamental change in the way in which GP surgeries are owned and organised. SSP are leading this change.
Dr Shikha Pitalia, Co-Founder of SSP Health said of the news “2022 is looking to be a successful year for SSP Health and the appointment of Andy and Mary is an exciting move for us as we look to grow. It’s clear that times are extremely challenging for General Practice in the UK, and that is why it is vital that we put the systems in place to provide outstanding patient care across the board. We recognise that the future of primary healthcare will rely on maximising the resources available and driving innovation and efficiencies through operations in order to offer patients access to healthcare how and when they want to receive it.”
Dr Pitalia goes on to say, “At a time when there are clear health inequalities across the UK and certain sections of society are struggling to get the best care, being able to offer the services they need, in a language they understand, in a location that works for them is vital, and that is something we pride ourselves on doing here at SSP Health.”
For more information on SSP Health or to find your local practice visit www.ssphealth.com
