Calling healthcare companies.

Are you a healthcare or life science company? Seeking to grow? Do you need funding, skills or supply chain support? New market opportunities? If so, read on --

The CELS Healthcare Network is a membership organisation open to all healthcare companies in North-East England. It was created to support, strengthen and grow the region's healthcare sector ( and is proving popular with business leaders.

Already close to signing its 100th member, the network includes the full spectrum of regional healthcare companies, with members active in assistive technology, biologics, health informatics and medical devices.

Mike Hartley, project director at CELS, who has been responsible for establishing the organisation, said: "We provide an environment where ideas can be conceived, opportunities recognised, new relationships forged and thoughts provoked. Our single over-riding aim is to support and grow regional healthcare organisations".

The Healthcare Network is backed with funding from the regional development agency One NorthEast (ONE) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). There is a full and ambitious programme of activities and events for members. In October, a regional delegation travelled to Dusseldorf for Rehacare ( a global trade fair for rehabilitation and assistive technology products.

A few weeks later, a second delegation returned to Germany for Medica, the world's largest exhibition for healthcare and medical technology ( and upcoming missions will visit China, the Middle East and the USA.

Such visits promote the region's strengths in key industry areas and present companies with new sales opportunities.

On skills, the Healthcare Network team worked with One NorthEast on a region-wide healthcare skills survey to identify key issues, block points and opportunities, prior to launching a series of initiatives to benefit future growth. The team also undertakes skills audits and assessments for individual healthcare companies to assist with subjects such as recruitment, succession planning, graduate retention and training.

A detailed benchmarking study has also been held to identify the precise number of jobs and the annual turnover of the regional healthcare economy, which will be repeated each year to monitor its growth and important sub-sectoral trends.

A parallel series of studies is analysing the current customer base of regional healthcare companies. This will identify existing trade patterns and priority overseas markets for future growth ( and will be followed by a strengthening of relations with the markets concerned, which could mean anything from a formal economic agreement (such as the one signed by One NorthEast and the Shanghai region of China) to reciprocal working links with individual healthcare and bio-clusters in target cities and regions.

The Healthcare Network team also run networking and supply chain events, and provide a range of support services that enable companies to secure grants and other forms of funding and to create new jobs.

The team works closely with other regional organisations to create opportunities for healthcare organisations. One excellent example of this is the collaboration with Business Link to hold a major Meet the Buyer event with procurement managers of major healthcare organisations early in 2007. Another recent event introduced start-up and medium-sized healthcare companies to a range of regional organisations able to provide funding, including DTI research and development grants, UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) financial support for international travel and exhibitions and range of support schemes available through Business Link.

The Healthcare Network has a major part to play in growing the region's economy. Membership is currently free of charge ( and any regional healthcare organisation planning to grow is invited to join.

Case Study: SCHIN and i4u

SCHIN and associate company i4u are health informatics companies based in Newcastle which have been involved with the Healthcare Network team for some time.

The companies, which supply medical and healthcare information to agencies such as hospitals, clinics and NHS trusts, travelled to China on a CELS/One NorthEast healthcare mission and were also introduced to a range of regional agencies for growth finance.

SCHIN/i4u are currently meeting other relevant regional companies through the network's Health Informatics sub-group which hosts regular meetings and CELS are also assisting with introductions to global companies as prospective partners and customers.

SCHIN has great news of its own. The Company has just secured a major 5-year national contract with the NHS, safeguarding 26 jobs and potentially creating many more.

It is also embarking on a joint venture with US-based EBSCO Publishing to open up new markets for its products. Says chairman Ian Purves "in companies of our size, we can't be everywhere and do everything ( so its good to have back-up and support when we need it. Most recently, we have been creating 16 high-quality jobs through a new subsidiary and CELS is helping us to secure regional financial support for doing so, which is great".

To join CELS Healthcare Network, or find out more, contact Mike Hartley at CELS on [phone] or see www.hcnetnee.com