The Talent Retainer

The Talent Retainer Protecting Staff Wellbeing

Anew corporate membership club at Kingsbridge Private Hospital Group is giving NI businesses and their employees free access to invaluable health services. Fiona Dowds, head of Sales and Group Business Development at Kingsbridge, explains why the new employee reward system could be an asset for attracting staff.

Launching this month is Kingsbridge Private Hospital Group’s Membership Club, solely for businesses.

It’s a dual offering of free and paid-for services that employers can offer to their employees as part of their reward system. Those services fall under new Diamond and Platinum membership levels.

Both schemes allow employees to receive discounted and preferential rates on a range of treatments and surgeries, along with access to a range of other exclusive benefits including easy access to specialists via the hospital’s online membership portal and rapid access to referrals.

It’s an offering that is going to allow NI firms to ramp up their wellbeing offering in an era of skills deficits and talent bargaining. Fiona says the scheme is an evolved offering of a programme implemented during the pandemic. She explains: “We launched that programme as a way to engage with the business community; to offer health and wellbeing and some discounts on healthcare.

“We did this because we know not every corporation is able to offer full private medical insurance, so we thought this was the perfect opportunity. It makes private healthcare accessible to all, so employers can offer employees and their families discounted healthcare.”

Spreading the word of the new scheme was done through a range of corporate roadshows which saw some of the Kingsbridge team visit business sites and offer health checks, sessions with health specialists and for those working remotely, webinars.

“When Covid hit, we moved a lot of our engagement online. The demand drove us to redevelop the membership scheme. We have invested £20,000 into a membership portal and now we’re relaunching the scheme as the Kingsbridge Membership Club,” she continues.

The free Diamond Membership element of the new scheme allows employers access to Kingsbridge’s Membership Portal from which employees build a profile and avail of other services including discounts off private healthcare treatments, access to the ‘ask a specialist a question’ feature and wellbeing resources as well as rapid access to GP referrals. Meanwhile the Platinum Membership, which costs £50 per employee per month, allows all of the above and unlimited GP appointments for staff and their family, a dedicated SMS booking service, guaranteed appointments within 24 hours and a dedicated patient liaison officer.

“This is not an insurance product; this is a staff perk that allows employers to engage in their employees’ health and wellbeing. Today the business world, in many sectors, is not just about the salary anymore; it’s about what you can give your employees in addition to that,” says Fiona.

“Across every sector there is a struggle to attract staff. We hear this at events and there’s also a struggle to retain staff and what we’re finding is, every sector is looking for a perk that shows they care about the wellbeing of their staff. By using this product, from the experts in health and wellbeing, you’re really sending out a message.”

Kingsbridge is Northern Ireland’s largest private healthcare group, offering private medical and surgical outpatient services (including a private GP service), private diagnostics services (x-ray, MRI, CT and

ultrasound) and surgery at its four locally based hospitals.

Together, the four in Belfast, the North West, Sligo and a new centre due to launch in Belfast this September, mean all geographical areas here are covered.

Just recently it launched its private cardiac surgery service; the first of its kind in Northern Ireland.

That followed a £3 million investment into building an operating theatre and an intensive

Care Unit (ICU) alongside the purchase of highly specialist cardiac equipment. At the time of print it had treated its first seven patients.

Twelve new clinical and admin jobs were created to facilitate the treatment of major life-saving cardiac surgery as well as other specialist surgeries at Kingsbridge’s flagship hospital in Belfast during the launch period.

Northern Ireland’s first private ICU, which is essential to that cardiac surgery, has been named the ‘Jim Dornan ICU,’ after Professor Jim Dornan, one of the founding consultants at Kingsbridge who passed away in 2021.

The cardiac service will initially include treatment of the five most common heart-related surgeries, namely cardiac bypass surgery for blockage of arteries, mitral and aortic valve repair and replacement surgery and atrial septal defect closure in adults. As the service is more established, more complex procedures will be added.

Fiona’s role at the group is head of sales and business development, and she also heads the training element of the business. She says since the pandemic, increasing demand on the NHS has driven many people to the private medical sector. In sync with that demand, Kingsbridge is growing. It’s recruiting and due to launch another site at the new King’s Hall development.

That ambition shows that it’s on an upward drive which will see it respond to the struggles of the NHS.

She adds: “We do find because the NHS waiting times have grown after the pandemic, and were already long before it, things have been exacerbated. People who maybe didn’t use private healthcare are now coming to us and many employers are tuning into the needs of their staff by signing up to our scheme.”

She says patient anecdotes have already shown the value of the scheme, with the free rapid access allowing one corporate user to receive an MRI at a reduced rate of 20% within 48 hours.

“Essentially this membership is open to all corporations. The Diamond level is free, costing businesses nothing but giving them a new perk for employees. We can also tailor the offering to give directors Platinum and employees Diamond services but what we are beginning to notice is once businesses see the value of the free Diamond package, they want to upgrade. This is, of course, at no obligation and is evidence of the value of that scheme to the users,” Fiona continues.

“Our corporate membership club is here to support the corporate market. It’s here to reward their workforces with discounted rates and it doesn’t cost a business anything. This is an opportunity to support your staff in their health and wellbeing,” she concludes.

Businesses interested in finding out more can contact Kingsbridge at membership@ kingsbridgeprivatehospital.com.