Brain injury business plans to double staff

Sep 12 2007 by Iain Laing, The Journal

A TRIO of health workers who launched their business last year are about to double their staff to 150.

A shortage of good treatment for people with neurological problems – such as those who have suffered strokes or serious head injuries in accidents – prompted Jonathan Wade, Kelly Mowbray and Emily Dunn to go into business for the first time 18 months ago.

They launched Neuro Partners which employs specialist rehabilitation support workers, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and specialist nurses to tend to patients in their own homes.

Managing director Jonathan Wade, 46, a former psychiatric nurse, said: “People said we were brave going into business, but you should never think about the risks when you are doing it. You should never stand still.”

He said they all saw a demand for the service that no-one else was meeting and is now winning contracts with social services, primary care trusts, insurers, case managers and solicitors.

“There was an obvious need in the community which all three of us had seen working in brain injury,” said Mr Wade.

“The pressure that is on the statutory services means that there are only so many hours of post-discharge care that they can give, and these patients’ rehabilitation needs can go on for years. The health services are our partners in this and there is no-one else we know of providing exactly the same services, other businesses are more generic – we are specialists.”

The Newcastle company already has more than 75 support workers on its books and is planning to double the number as its work spreads further afield.

It currently focuses on Tyneside, Wearside, Northumberland and County Durham, but Neuro Partners is building business in Yorkshire and the Tees Valley and is shortly to open an office in Carlisle from which it hopes to replicate its success here.

The company expects to see revenues of £1m this year and is beginning to reach a profit. Mr Wade says he expects to see turnover double to £2m next year with profit margins of 15-20%.

But he stresses: “We don’t want to expand for the sake of it. It is the quality of the treatment that is important to us.”

Staff can be difficult to find as the skills required are so specific, said Mr Wade, but it had found many staff who were recent graduates or on the third year of therapy degrees.

“You might think there was a high turnover of staff but it’s only been about 20% over the time we have been running.

“These are young and motivated people working with other professionals. They get a lot out of working for us and we get a lot out of them. They get to challenge the way the company works and this reinvigorates the company.”

The company said it had received help from the very start and throughout its growth from Enterprise Campus, a service delivered by Northumbria University to provide advice and support to students and graduates wanting to start or develop their own business.

Roger Candy, business partnerships manager from Enterprise Campus, said: “Kelly has a very focused strategic vision for the business and the growth in staff and demand for the services of Neuro Partners suggest its services are exactly what the market requires.Enterprise Campus is delighted to be able to promote this exciting and innovative new business.”

Former occupational therapist Kelly Mowbray, director of Neuro Partners, said: “I met with the Enterprise Campus team to discuss how to take the business forward as well as how we should undertake marketing.”