4th Nov 2005 09:48
Tribal Group PLC04 November 2005 Tribal Group plc Formation of strategic alliance in primary care Tribal Group plc ("Tribal Group" or the "Group") is pleased to announce theformation of a strategic alliance between Mercury Health, the Group's healthcaredelivery arm, and Chilvers & McCrea Limited ("CML"), one of the leadingindependent providers of primary care services to NHS organisations andpatients. The alliance has been established to take advantage of the major reforms thatare taking place in healthcare in the UK and the increasing opportunities forindependent sector providers to supply a range of primary care services to theNHS. The Group has formed a new company, Mercury Health Primary Care Limited("MHPC"), that will receive strategic support from CML, and have exclusiveaccess to the know-how and intellectual property developed by Sarah Chilvers andRory McCrea (the owners of CML). Sarah Chilvers and Rory McCrea hold a minorityinterest of 35 per cent. in MHPC. MHPC is currently bidding for a number of pilot primary care schemes beingcommissioned by the Department of Health but is not expected to make a positivecontribution to Group earnings before the year ending 31 March 2007. In a separate but related development, Mercury Health has entered into anaffiliation with the Frome Medical Practice ("FMP"). FMP is one of the leadingGP practices in the country with 29 doctors. FMP will provide advisory andsupport services to MHPC. Commenting on the announcement, Henry Pitman, Chief Executive of Tribal Group,said, "We are delighted to announce the formation of MHPC and the alliances withCML and FMP. We believe that these developments will lay the foundations forMercury Health to become one of the leading independent sector providers ofprimary care services. In addition, CML and FMP will be able to provide us withspecialist expertise that should enhance our capability to be successful in thecurrent round of diagnostics and elective surgery contracts." Contact details:Henry Pitman, Group Chief Executive 01285 886020Peter Martin, Mercury Health Chief Executive 0118 952 1901 Editors' note: CML was established four years ago and operates 18 generalmedical practices in England and provides a range of consultancy services toPrimary Care Trusts and other NHS bodies. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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