Gamekeeper Turned Poacher-Still Stuffing Their Mouths with Gold-Part I

Picture: Olympus Health

Insofar as Olympus Health Limited is concerned its position as a provider is not made simple from the presentation of its advertising in writing and on-line and its integration with the Willows GP practice certainly muddies the waters. There are two separate layers, Olympus Health and the GP service run by a GP provider organisation often historically called “Willows Health” or “Willows Healthcare”. This is a partnership of GPs holding an NHS contract but run as a business. Meaning that the doctors (partners/directors) effectively own and control the practice, not the NHS.

This is the model of GP practice that has been in place since the inception of the NHS in 1948. GPs resisted the overtures of the Government of the time to join the NHS. When the NHS was created in 1948 under Aneurin Bevan, there was strong resistance from doctors, especially GPs about becoming salaried state employees. GPs at the time ran their own local practices as small businesses and valued their independence and control over their work. To get them to join the new NHS, Bevan made a compromise, GPs would remain independent contractors and the NHS would pay them to provide services to patients. This arrangement allowed the NHS to launch successfully without losing the entire GP workforce.

The Olympus Health approach to marketing its services mirrors this but emphasises the private element of its business as it is not a GP practice per se. At the same address the GP organisation (privately run, NHS-contracted) and a private company (Olympus Health Limited) owned by Dr Abbas Tejani, both operate from the same building under different legal structures, with different funding streams.

What is notable, and slightly unusual is that Olympus Health is very new (2023), has a single controlling individual and operates from an NHS-linked site. That combination suggests a clinician-led private provider embedded into NHS infrastructure.

The central figure, Dr Abbas Tejani has held roles across the NHS and private sector. He is the founder, sole Director, and controlling owner of Olympus Health Limited. He is also the named registered manager for regulated services (CQC).

He is not just a private provider,  he is deeply embedded in NHS structures being a Principal GP in Leicester who has previously worked with the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), now Integrated Care Board (ICB), has sat on the Executive Board of a local NHS hospital trust and held leadership roles such as Clinical Lead for Health Inequalities (Leicester CCG).

In effect he has operated inside the NHS commissioning and leadership structures, not just as an external provider. He also has academic and training roles as an Honorary academic at De Montfort University, and he trains GPs nationally in minor surgery and joint injections. Thus, he is in clinical training pipelines and professional influence networks.

So, we are not looking at a simple “private clinic owner.” We are looking at someone who is simultaneously an NHS GP, a former NHS commissioner, leadership participant, a clinical educator and the owner of a company that provides healthcare privately and under contract to the NHS.

This is an unusual relatively uncommon model. From its own material Olympus Health says it works with the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Provider Company and NHS partnerships, using NHS-style contracts, NHS referral pathways but also provides private access to care.

This reflects a broader NHS trend known as the “Integrated/community provider model” which sees specialist services moved out of hospitals and delivered in GP settings and community hubs such as The Willows, often delivered by GP-led companies who are private providers with NHS contracts

Because of these overlapping roles there are potential areas of concern. It should be noted that these are in general and not specific allegations of any wrongdoing. Notably there may be a conflict-of-interest risk with involvement in commissioning and providing services, acting in a leadership/influential capacity, blurring of NHS vs private pathways and use of NHS infrastructure by private entities.

These are known policy issues nationally and are not unique to Leicester it must be said.

Olympus Health operates under an agreement with the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Provider Company (LLR PCL) and must meet service delivery standards and targets under that agreement. LLR PCL is part of the local NHS provider system, not a random private partner and it is a bridge between the NHS and providers like Olympus Health.

So, Olympus Health is likely being paid via subcontract or service-level agreement, not directly by NHS England in most cases. The accountability chain is:

Patient-Olympus Health – LLR Provider Company -NHS system

Because of this structure It is not a direct NHS service but is outsourced/subcontracted NHS care, but it may look identical to NHS care as it is in the same building, using the same referral routes and sometimes the same clinicians. This creates what’s called “provider opacity” and patients cannot easily tell who is delivering care.

What we’re seeing is a modern NHS model where the NHS no longer delivers everything directly, instead it commissions services through provider networks using independent organisations like Olympus Health. So, Olympus Health sits inside the NHS delivery chain but is not the NHS itself. It does receive NHS-funded work (via the LLR Provider Company), it operates as a subcontracted provider within the NHS system, but it also runs private services alongside this.

This is a textbook example of “Integrated NHS delivery via independent providers” This is not unusual and is increasingly common across England, but it is not very transparent to patients.

There is no public evidence of wrongdoing, but there is limited transparency on contracts and governance details, and the exact scope and value of those contracts are not publicly disclosed.

In the second part of this article, we explore in more detail the role of the founding Director of Olympus Healthcare Limited and the mechanisms in place to ensure proper governance is in place.

Sources:

• https://www.miragenews.com/why-most-gps-initially-opposed-nhs-founding-1208780
• https://keepournhspublic.com/bevans-founding-principles-for-nhs-have-stood-the-test-of-time
• https://abetternhs.net/2013
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_National_Health_Service_%28England%29
• https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/14641535
• https://www.olympushealth.co.uk/our-directors
• https://phoenixphp.co.uk/prof-abbas-tejani/