Member Article

Accountants prescribe right advice for doctors

A well-established accountancy practice that first opened its doors on Tyneside in the 1920s is prescribing advice to help 21st Century health practitioners move their businesses into the future and plan their strategy for growth.

With nine Principals and a support staff of around 50 including experts across all disciplines, Jesmond based Robson Laidler have built up a well-deserved reputation for delivering compliance, tax planning, insolvency, financial planning and business development services.

In recent years, the firm has expanded their client base from traditional family businesses to include various specialist sectors. One such expansion is in the healthcare profession where they are now regarded as leading lights in the sector.

The firm has established a strong and significant foundation of dental and medical clients developed through the consistent and reliable delivery of expert knowledge and it’s a sector that Associate, Andrew Robson wants to see expand even further.

“We have a dedicated team here that really knows the medical profession inside out. We have recently been awarded membership of AISMA, the Association of Independent Specialist Medical Accountants. This is a small national network of around 75 accountancy firms who provide expert advice to medical practices, locum GPs and hospital consultants and we are delighted to be members.”

The firm had to undergo rigorous checks and assessments before the AISMA award was granted. One of the criteria was the firm’s ability to keep up to date with important changes in the law and legislation relating to the medical field.

A major change in healthcare administration has brought the firm’s expertise to the forefront for a group of Newcastle doctors who have instructed the firm to look after their business interests. Andrew Robson explains,

“Despite Government promises to the contrary, a significant number of GP services are now being put out to tender. This has the effect of opening local practices to competition with the prospect of essential services being conducted by providers from anywhere in the country.

“GP surgeries are becoming more responsible for the services they provide, many have identified that it is better to work together to protect their respective practices and pool their resources to make sure that they can keep delivering services excellence to their local community and to be in the best position to provide new services in the future.”

As a strategy to help retain security of these services, the majority of practices, which form the Newcastle North and East CCG, have established an umbrella company, Newcastle General Practice Services Ltd. This company acts as a federation for the individual practices and gives them a bigger voice when tendering for services across the region on behalf of its members. The federation will protect its members, strengthen their business cases in the tender process and help to preserve the practices’ future.

“We at Robson Laidler are delighted that our hard work and dedication to the healthcare sector has resulted in us being appointed to act for the company. As someone who has been working in this sector for many years, I also believe that our clients feel re-assured that our firm is not only a stable and credible organisation but we also have a multi-functional arm that also covers everything they need from audits to accounting and business development to strategic planning.”

Dr Antony Moore who chairs the new company was optimistic about the benefits to be had by its members.

“This is a brand new company in it’s embryonic stages and we appreciate that there is a degree of uncertainty about the value of contracts it is going to secure and the timescale over which it will grow. However, there is a clear ethos that working together will be stronger than working individually.

“We need to move forward to protect not only our practices but the needs of the communities that we serve. We are pleased to appoint Robson Laidler as our business advisers and look forward to growing in strength thanks to their guidance and advice.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Highlights PR .