Member Article

North East training outfits join to offer offshore medical training

Two North East-based training businesses have joined forces to market offshore medical training in the only dedicated centre in the UK.

AIS Training in North Shields, and Medipro, which was previously based in Stokesley, will create the joined centre to offer a range of offshore medical qualifications including the HSE Offshore Medic and IMCA Diver Medic Technician courses.

Marketed under the name ‘AIS Medipro’ the business will operate from AIS’ established 120,000 sq ft base in North Shields.

Managing director of AIS Group, Paul Stonebanks explains the importance of the link up. He said: “Medipro has the same customer-focussed philosophy and drive for quality as AIS and was therefore a natural fit for our business.

“Acquiring a stake in the company allows us to expand our extensive training portfolio, at the same time as responding to the industry’s need for multi-skilled technicians with the right skills and core competencies to do the tasks required of them in the safest, most effective way possible.

“First aid and medical training for the offshore sector is a highly specialised area, which can only be delivered by trained clinicians, as a result there are very few places in the UK, outside of Aberdeen, where medics can get all the training they need for offshore work under one roof. Linking with Medipro allows us to offer a unique ‘one-stop-shop’ for medical and offshore skills training and competency testing.”

Medipro was set up by Brian English two and a half years ago to offer specialist medical training to those who need it. Brian was a former medical professional within the NHS but moved into lecturing clinicians at a local university.

It was while lecturing he recognised the commercial opportunity to combine his teaching and medical experience and in 2011 set up his company to provide specialist first aid training to a wide range of customers including pharmacists, military personnel and offshore workers.

Managing director of Medipro, Brian English said: “The medical profession is a true vocation so you tend to find the majority of nurses, doctors and paramedics actually working within the NHS rather than teaching the skills to others. This means there aren’t many professional training companies in this field and I saw a huge gap in the market when I set up Medipro.

“Although we’ve grown substantially from a standing start over the past two and a half years teaming up with AIS Training is excellent news and leaps us forward a decade in terms of business development. As well as benefitting from AIS’s extensive resources and facilities, our customers now have access to AIS Training’s comprehensive portfolio of more than 70 industry-recognised global skills and competency courses.

“We can see huge potential business opportunities as a result and we are really looking forward to working more closely with AIS Training in the future.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .