From physio to managing director

Richard Thorp shares his reasons for founding Circle Case Management and why satisfaction comes from being known as a good boss

Ioftenget asked if I miss being a practising physiotherapist - and the answer is no, I don’t.

I started my working life more than 30 years ago in banking and finance and then went back to university in my thirties to do a physiotherapy degree. This switch was prompted by the fact that as I grew up and matured, I began to realise that I wanted two main things from a job - I wanted to work with people, and I wanted the ability to live and work wherever I wanted and not be tied to a major city like London.

The switch worked out well for me as it enabled me to get great satisfaction from helping people to recover from illness or injury. I was also able to move to the South West, a fantastic area to bring up a family.

The other great thing about being an allied health professional is that there are plenty of opportunities to adapt and change what you do and to work freelance.

After some years in the NHS I began to feel the need to flex my entrepreneurial skills. I did some research and up-skilled into doing a range of different assessments and rehabilitation based around ergonomics and vocational rehabilitation, which led me to branch into case management working with injured people who wanted to get back into work or meaningful activity.

After a few years as an independent practitioner, an opportunity arose to team up with my wife and another business partner to start our own South West-based case management business. Circle Case Management Ltd was born.

Back in 2015 when Circle was formed, we had no idea how things would turn out but we had the advantage of having a good skills mix within the senior team and bags of enthusiasm. I took on the role of MD using all my finance and business skills to plot a course for the business and we steadily grew.

As is part of growing a business we have tried lots of different things, but the most important thing for us is that we have stuck to our core values of honesty, excellence, collaboration and creativity.

We have made mistakes, but when we have hit bumps in the road we have always reverted to these values which have stood the test of time, and as a boss I try to be as kind as possible to our staff. This is where I get my satisfaction from in my job.

I am not a practising physiotherapist anymore but I aim to be the best employer I can be. This, along with seeing my plans and strategies come to fruition, gives me a great deal of satisfaction.

Eight years on, Circle is now an established award-winning UK wide business providing high quality case management, expert witness reports and mental capacity assessments. We have a fantastic staff team all over the UK and I am still enjoying living in the South West, and helping people as a good boss rather than a physiotherapist.

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