Westfield Health has bought 140 year-old cash plan provider Bolton & District Hospital Saturday Council (BDHSC), which trades as UK Healthcare, for an undisclosed fee.
Bolton-based BDHSC is a not-for-profit health provider with a nationwide corporate and consumer customer base, and an annual turnover of £4 million. UK Healthcare has held a strong presence in the North West in particular since the organisation was set up in 1877.
The acquisition is part of Westfield Health’s expansion plans and follows its relocation and expansion into new headquarters in Sheffield city centre in 2016 to enable it to expand into a broader range of health and wellbeing markets.
UK Healthcare CEO Stephen Pugh says: “We’ve had a very successful few years of significant growth, so much so that we have been accelerating towards being subject to Solvency II regulation. The opportunity to join forces with Westfield Health enables us to not only leverage their systems and processes to ensure compliance, but also enhances our ability to better support the health of our customers through a much broader proposition.
“Their strategic partnerships throughout the health and wellbeing sector will enable us to enhance our products and services, by leveraging intellectual knowledge around physical and mental wellbeing from world class research centres; meaning we will be in an even stronger position to help more people improve their quality of life.”
Westfield Health chief executive Jill Davies says: “Westfield Health is entering a very exciting era in our health and wellbeing journey and we are delighted to acquire a successful and longstanding company in UK Healthcare.
“Like us, UK Healthcare was born out of the need to support local hospitals and has a long history of helping people with their everyday healthcare needs. Both companies share similar values, supporting the NHS and medically related charities with much needed funding wherever we can.
“We look forward to working closely with UK Healthcare in order to help them continue their upward trajectory of recent success. The acquisition will mean we can leverage our infrastructure to support in areas such as regulatory implications. This will also minimise the impact of the ongoing threat of rising Insurance Premium Tax which is putting significant strain on the industry.”