Abermed

Source: Energy Digital

Date :17/03/2008 10:50:47

Offering occupational health services to private and public companies, both onshore and offshore, it is easy to see how Abermed will maintain its growth and expansion

Written by Lucy Mowatt and produced by Alex Smith

James Miller, Abermed’s MD says that the company has seen numerous changes in recent years, which has resulted in its ownership and structure shifting. Having joined the company in 1999 he has seen the company undergo significant developments, bringing the company “into the 20th century before the 21st,” he says.

By 2005 the company had been subject to a management buyout scheme, which followed the consolidation of the company’s shares to result in ownership being held by a small group of shareholders. These shareholders also owned a company with similar interests, Abermed, resulting in Aberdeen Industrial Doctors changing its name to Abermed Industrial Doctors, after which the MBO was completed by the management team who were running the company.

This change of ownership also bought in a new growth strategy, which included a number of acquisitions. “We bought what was the North Sea Medical Centre in Great Yarmouth,” James explains. “That was the biggest acquisition we made and that ended up having business worth about £2.5 million in turnover.” Abermed has proceeded to make a number of other purchases, including OMS Limited in Edinburgh in 2007. Current turnover is ten million per annum.

“We’re always looking for other acquisitions that fit in with our plans for the future,” he adds. Although he was unable to give any specifics, James Miller says that the company has plans for 2008 which will add to the services that Abermed can offer.

A new IT system is also being rolled out by the company; with eight sites around the UK, Abermed has been linking its sites together electronically in recent years so that it can offer the best possible service. “We’ve been developing a database and diary system that records all our clients’ medical requirements; it records all our medical information on it and that’s run from our server in Aberdeen. IT is one of the key things that has allowed us to develop and grow over the years,” the MD explains. This process will continue to develop in-house in future, in order to meet the demands of Abermed’s growing business.

Healthy workforce

With a portfolio of services, from pre employment medicals to travel vaccinations and sickness absence management, Abermed’s knowledge is sought by numerous companies looking to simplify their business. “Obviously the level of knowledge and skill that we have is wide; we cover a number types of employers and have years of experience,” James says. Occupational health normally isn’t an in-house specialism, so it’s good business sense to outsource that side of the business.

Roughly 35 percent of Abermed’s business is general occupational health, for both private and public companies. Its focus, however, is upon the offshore industry, where it not only operates within the UK, but in Oman and it is looking to provide a service in Kazakhstan. This is in addition to having medics based all over the world, including in Western Africa and Egypt. “We take the view that we need to go wherever the energy business is,” James Miller says.

Because clients are often based in remote locations Abermed is looking to really build upon its telemedicine offering. With these systems, the company’s doctors and medical professionals will be able to connect with people in remote locations, offering advice and instruction. “A medic or a person on site is in touch with a doctor onshore by telephone, while the doctor is able to get vital signs through [telemedicine] equipment, so we can have ECGs being read live by a doctor onshore,” James Miller says.

Abermed’s first psychotherapist joined the team of skilled professionals in 2007 too. The company has been able to offer stress management as part of its service for quite some time, but with a psychotherapist on board the company is really able to strengthen its experience. This will also link into telemedicine and extend the provision of psychological services to people in remote environments.

The right people

145 people are currently employed by the Aberdeen-based company, which is a figure that has expanded rapidly in the past five or so years; in 2001 only 15 people were on its books.

Since then, the number of doctors and medics employed has grown. Owing to the nature of its business, Abermed actively encourages the regular training of employees to ensure they stay ahead of the game. “It’s unusual to have doctors training to be consultants outside of the NHS, as occurs in Occupational Health,” James says. The company is keen to encourage this, having two specialists training posts while also offering HSE approved rig medic training courses and regular internal and external training for its nurses.

Junior doctors are often taken on for six months too, while they complete their training and get a feel for the business. “We have a student with us at the moment, doing a business management course at a local university,” he continues. This might be why Abermed has qualified for the Investors in People Award, reflecting the importance placed on training by the company.

Continuous improvement

With such high quality services, it is easy to see why Abermed is known around the globe. James Miller says that the company’s name is widely renowned. Abermed tends to undertake a lot of PR activities, which James describes as “effective” and that individual case studies often attract interest from potential customers.

“We do industry trade shows too,” he continues. “The oil & gas industry does a lot of seminars and we get involved with the safety side - we are always looking for opportunities to work with suppliers to the industry.”

Indeed, there are opportunities for growth. The core of Abermed’s strategy is health – to maintain and improve the health of people in the work place, which is an area in which all companies have an interest. The company is looking to expand its offering further in future; it is looking to develop its training services especially. James Miller says, “We already do medic training, but we’re looking at offering First Aid training right up to training of doctors and working in remote locations where there is a lack of training.”

A continuous improvement program has also been developed too. Following the works of W. Edwards Deming and Jim Collins, Abermed has identified its “core values and aims and (is) applying them to every aspect of the business”. James Miller says that this is because Abermed’s business is specialised and therefore needs its own management system.

Abermed aims to achieve a turnover of between £50 and 70 million in the next five years, which in comparison to the £880,000 it achieved in 2001, equates to rapid growth. However, with strategies in place to grow the business and enter new markets, it’s easy to see how the company will achieve this.

Click here to view the corporate brochure on Abermed