Supporting the Healthcare Sector

Both in the provision of care homes and primary healthcare services in the community, the financial implications of external market forces loom large.

Existing facilities need upgrading to meet new regulations. Capacity needs to be increased to cope with anticipated growth in demand. Staff must be qualified to meet the high regulatory standards of care now required.

In every sphere – general practice, care homes, dentistry, pharmacy, osteopathy, veterinary medicine, to name a few – capital costs are rising. Businesses that traditionally have needed only current account banking and transmission services find themselves looking at large loan transactions, remortgaging options and the need to raise capital.

Expertise on the Spot

NatWest’s healthcare expertise is available where it is most needed – locally. Matching resources with customer locations, we have placed a team of specialist managers around England and Wales.

Specialisation gives our healthcare team more time to dedicate to customers. Immersion in the sector gives them depth of understanding, the ability to assess risk and to think ‘beyond the frame’. Our relationship managers track developments in healthcare and speak the language of your business. They generate ideas for customers, raising concerns and proposing solutions that make sense both for them and the Bank.

We reinforce the sector knowledge of both our relationship managers and support staff with focused training sessions. Two and three day seminars on the care home sector, for example, draw on the Bank’s knowledge of healthcare as well as that of care home owners, the National Care Standards Commission (NCSC), business valuers and finance brokers.

Our healthcare specialists deal with a wide range of professionals involved in the sector, including regulators, accountants, valuers, lawyers, Health & Safety experts, property developers and planners. These relationships are put to work for customers. They give the Bank an ability to approach deals from ‘both sides of the desk’, with an understanding of different points of view.

Primary Healthcare

“Our long-term support of primary healthcare businesses means that we are used to changing with and meeting the needs of the sector. Through our specialist managers we are committed to continuing to do so.” Paul Marrow, Managing Director, Commercial Banking England & Wales

In primary healthcare too, fundamental shifts are taking place. Approximately 70 per cent of premises occupied by general practitioners are either too small or too old to cope with expanding care provision in areas such as physiotherapy, district nursing, midwifery, minor surgical procedure and dialysis. Many will need to move, extend or refurbish their buildings, both to meet these needs and comply with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act. Over the next three to five years, some 3,000 new or improved premises will be required for general practices.

Big budgets are required for most, especially the larger out-of-town developments. Increasingly, rather than fund these, many GPs are turning to developers and investors and then renting the facilities on long leases, supported by rental reimbursement monies. Even allowing for the new premises flexibilities introduced as part of the new General Medical Services contract, this trend seems likely to continue. NatWest is working directly with GP practices, Primary Care Organisations, property developers and with many of the specialist accountants and lawyers to make this happen. With a substantial proportion of general practice funding in the UK coming from NatWest, we can truly claim to ‘speak the language’, ask the right questions, understand the risks and find the funding mechanisms best suited to the need.

*Source: pH Group January 2005, for The Royal Bank of Scotland Group