Sunderland health experts join forces to improve quality of care and health services
A team of health academics in Sunderland have brought their brains together to launch a new business aimed at improving occupational health care and domiciliary care services across the UK.
Support Health & Well Being Ltd was founded in March 2021 by experienced academics Tendayi Nyatsambo, Portia Bama, Francis Bama and Nyasha Nyatsambo.
The company prides itself on providing a ‘more holistic approach’ to occupational health and domiciliary care and this tact has already helped secure contracts with companies as far afield as Gloucestershire, as well as the procuring of external consultants to help cater for the demand.
Portia Bama, director and co-founder of Support Health & Well Being, said: “During our careers, we’ve each worked in a variety of care and health roles across the region and, having identified the areas in which we thought were really lagging behind, we decided to make it our mission to improve the quality of care provision not only in the North East, but across the UK.
“This began with the launch of our occupational health arm in March, which has already seen us secure a number of contracts and will follow with the launch of our domiciliary care arm, which will comprise temporary care, leaver care and social integration as well as supported living and domiciliary care.”
Currently, each of the four directors are jointly responsible for not only running the business, but also providing care support, with each of them taking on support worker roles as well as managing day-to-day tasks while the company finds its feet in the marketplace.
For director Nyasha Nyatsambo, a senior clinician for the North East Ambulance Service and qualified social worker, this has provided him with the perfect opportunity to take the vast knowledge he has accumulated over 15 years’ service in the NHS and the private sector and help completely reshape the way businesses and the public sector broach care and wellbeing.
He said: “As a senior clinician, I’m used to dealing with big challenges and thinking outside of the box, which is why I was keen to join Francis, Portia and Tendayi on this journey.
“Over recent years, we’ve all witnessed first-hand the many ways in which the provision of domiciliary care and occupational health services often fall short of what is required of them and – using our knowledge and experience – I think we have a fantastic opportunity to overhaul how care and wellbeing support is rolled out among both the private and public sectors for years to come.”
Support Health & Well Being Ltd currently works primarily with private organisations, such as recruiters and healthcare groups, to provide occupational health support and advice, as well as providing domiciliary care to its partners in the public sector.
Looking to the future, the team have ambitions to grow their headcount, creating a number of part-time and full-time roles at their Sunderland Software Centre office, and further increasing their service offering to introduce more health and care services to those that need it most.
Tendayi said: “We chose Sunderland Software Centre as its ideally situated in the heart of Sunderland city centre, which itself is right in the centre of the North East and means we can serve the entire region.
“Having studied at universities such as Northumbria and Teesside University in the past, we also know just how excellent of a talent pool we have right on our doorstep. We have five world-class universities and as we continue to grow, this will be key to helping us attract the right people who share our ambition of improving the quality of health and care support for all.
“It also offers superfast internet connectivity – which will be key to ensuring our services run as efficiently as possible – and we’re delighted to be here.”
Councillor Graeme Miller, leader of Sunderland City Council, said: “It’s always a pleasure welcoming new businesses to the city, but even more so when they share our ambition of making the world a better, healthier place, and we’re delighted they have chosen Sunderland as their home.”
It was reported recently that a new centre to support people living with disabilities – which is being developed by Sunderland City Council – is heading closer to completion. The development represents the council’s first foray into council-house construction for 40 years.
