Provider of international workforce healthcare services and personalised health monitoring technologies, Zello Group, has announced the purchase of Business Health Limited – its first UK acquisition.
The move will see the business bring more accessible, affordable and urgently required occupational health and wellbeing services to small and medium sized businesses in the United Kingdom.
Could this growth in interest in UK Occupational Health services be spurred in part by the UK government’s recent two-part consultation on ways to increase the uptake of Occupational Health (OH) provision, support businesses and increase labour force participation by tackling economic inactivity due to long-term sickness? You can read the outcome of this consultation here.
This acquisition by Zello Health is the latest in a series of developments related to OH providers. Another is the uniting of Soma Health and Maitland Medical into Spire Occupational Health.
Meeting growing demand
Business Health has seen turnover increase year-on-year since its inception in 2008, servicing both local and global clients in manufacturing, civil services, financial, legal, HR and educational industries.
Services include fit for work and periodic medicals, sickness absence, legal compliance, employee support, policy development and advisory, health surveillance, mental and musculoskeletal health services, specialised educational and knowledge sharing courses, wellness programmes, health promotion, and health risk assessments.
The company aims to optimise company and employee performance by creating a healthier and happier workforce.
Getting the long-term sick back to work
A recent study released by The Society of Occupational Medicine (SOM) showed alarming statistics. Currently in the UK 2.5 million people (1 in 16) are economically inactive due to long term sickness, more than 11 million people are living with long term conditions that can affect their ability to work, and of the 4 million people living with mental health conditions only 2 million are employed.
Headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, Zello is a global health services and technology innovator specialising in monitoring the health and wellbeing of both clients’ people and operations – optimising their performance in complex environments.
Zello delivers solutions to create healthier employees, safer workplaces and more productive workplaces through bespoke performance solutions and innovative technologies.
Healthcare in complex and challenging environments
The company already supports numerous clients in the UK through its Integrated Services division and the acquisition will further strengthen its UK operations. Dr. Andrew Dickson, currently managing director of Business Health, will take up a strategic role as senior medical director EMEA. He will continue to deliver occupational health and wellbeing services to clients and bringing his 27 years of experience to the company.
He will help expand Zello’s international service and technology solutions that are advancing corporate, remote, and humanitarian healthcare in complex and challenging environments.
Andrew Hames, CEO of Zello, said the strategic acquisition will help transform the provision of occupational health and wellbeing solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are five times less likely to have occupational health support than large businesses.
Easing access to occupational health for employees
“We will be offering affordable and flexible service options to businesses and civil services, including advancing remote consultations,” he said.
“In the first instance, helping both employers and employees understand occupational health and its benefits is key in addressing access issues. As it stands only 50 percent of workers in the United Kingdom have access to such services. We are looking to change that.”
He added: “Andrew and his team are market leaders and highly respected within the United Kingdom occupational health service sector; we are very proud to now be expanding on this expertise while keeping the personal touch. Our mission is to provide a suite of robust and innovative occupational health and wellbeing services that ensures access for all and a fit, healthy and supported workforce”.
Attention on prevention
Zello’s chief medical officer, Dr. Rikard Moen added; “We see significant benefits to Zello clients in delivering occupational health and wellbeing services in tandem with our other health and personalised health monitoring technologies as part of our holistic approach to managing the health and wellbeing of our clients’ workforces. It places Zello at the heart of detection and prevention of workforce health issues and complements the investment we are making in technology.”
Dr Dickson said: “There is a perfect synergy between my ambitions to expand our occupational health offering and the robust growth strategy that Zello has; so it has been a meeting of minds. SMEs and the civil service are under real pressure post Covid to provide occupational health and wellbeing benefits to their employees, reducing time off through sickness and ill health. We are advising clients on the most up-to-date prevention methods to improve the health and wellbeing of their workforces.”
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