NW business briefs: HF Solicitors; max20 Project Solutions; JLL; Liverpool Wedding Show; Katie Piper Foundation; CoolKit

Manchester-based HF Solicitors has partnered with Tokio Marine HCC International (TMHCCI), a member of the Tokio Marine group of companies based in Houston, Texas, to focus on trade credit commercial debt litigation.

The partnership will leverage HF’s innovations and legal expertise and TMHCCI’s trade credit industry knowledge, to create an alliance offering a suite of solutions for customers.

The partnership will be led by HF partner, Joanne Gardner-Boyes and by Trade Credit claims manager, Sam Moody at TMHCCI.

Jo Gardner-Boyes, head of commercial debt litigation at HF, said: “During the tender process, it was clear to see how the alignment of our cultures and drive to deliver excellence to our clients could create a successful partnership and we’re excited to see what the future brings.”

Ronan McCann, CEO and managing partner at HF, said: “Our partnership with TMHCCI and the Trade Credit Team is about more than just exceptional service, it’s also about trust, transparency, and a shared vision for success.

“We believe in fostering strong relationships with our clients, acting as trusted advisors and partners in their growth and prosperity and the shared vision we have with TMHCCI will allow us to help businesses regain control of their finances and focus on what matters most.”

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Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust

Altrincham-based max20 Project Solutions, which delivers digital transformation projects for the NHS, has played a key role in the successful roll-out of electronic patient records across 10 Manchester hospitals.

The launch of the new system, which is now live across all Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) sites, was one of the biggest and most ambitious transformation projects in the history of the NHS and max20’s role covered a period of almost two years and included cleansing and validating the data to ensure it was fit for purpose.

MFT’s new system, known as Hive, provides a single hospital record for every patient, replacing hundreds of previous systems in different locations and departments. It will provide a smoother experience for both patients and staff, improving safety and operational efficiency and driving new opportunities for research and innovation. Patients will also have more control over their own care through the dedicated patient app, MyMFT.

Before making the transition to the new platform, almost 750,000 existing patient records had to be cleansed to ensure the quality and reliability of patient data. It is believe that around 88% of secondary care trusts currently have electronic patient records (EPRs) in place, but the Government wants all trusts to have them implemented by March 2025. MFT is one of a number of trusts which max20 has been assisting to introduce EPR solutions.

Don Tomlinson, managing director of max20, said: “Electronic patient records will revolutionise healthcare and NHS trusts around the UK are engaged in a push to get systems in place to meet the Government’s timeline. We are proud to have worked alongside the MFT team on this project.”

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Professional services business JLL has announced the launch of its second annual charity 5-a-side women’s and men’s football tournaments for the UK’s property scene in Manchester following the success of its inaugural event in 2022. The event is hosted by JLL’s Gender Balance Group and is open to all in the property industry.

Taking place on Friday, September 8, at Powerleague Manchester hot on the heels of the 2023 Women’s World Cup final, the event will seek to promote the importance of equality within the property industry. Participants of all genders and gender identities are welcome and encouraged to get involved and enter into the spirit of the beautiful game to help raise money for charities HideOut Youth Zone and WWF.

This will be the second edition of the tournament following a successful launch in 2022, which raised more than £10,000 for JLL’s charity partner, Hideout Youth Zone – an east Manchester-based youth club that seeks to provide a space for young people to experience new activities including girls in football through their Honey Bees programme and spaces for holiday clubs with two hot meals a day.

This year, JLL will introduce a second charity partner – WWF- whose mission is to build a world where people and nature thrive. Often women and vulnerable people come off worse in periods of crisis including climate change. The money raised will support WWF’s work around the world including their Sustainable Futures careers programme, which prepares UK secondary school and college students for the future green economy.

Last year, 26 teams made the trip to Manchester from as far as Bristol, Edinburgh and London to take part, with teams from Savills claiming the top spot in both the men’s and women’s tournaments. Entry costs £420 per team, or £60 as an individual.

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Lindsey Devlin and Vikki Sweeney

Two Merseyside women have set up a company to launch a wedding show in the region.

The Liverpool Wedding Show is a new event coming to the city’s waterfront Exhibition Centre next year and is the brainchild of entrepreneurs Vikki Sweeney and Lindsey Devlin. The Wirral-based duo have been running the successful Bridal Show in the borough since 2016, hosting more than 40 events across a range of venues and locations.

Vikki Sweeney, director, The Wedding Show Liverpool, said: “This is the perfect opportunity to scale up what we’ve been successful in delivering for brides and grooms across Merseyside and Cheshire for eight years. Over this time, we’ve attracted a wide range of local suppliers who appreciate our dedication and have bought in to our personal approach.”

Lindsey Devlin, director, The Wedding Show Liverpool said: “We already know many of our existing suppliers will join us in Liverpool, but we’re also looking forward to welcoming many new clients to the show. With such a huge space at our new venue, we know we can offer our couples so many more options to help with their wedding planning, all under one roof.”

The weekend event takes place on February 10-11, 2024, and will feature three catwalks a day, live music, demonstrations, and a VIP Lounge. Colm Graham, exhibition, partnerships and hospitality manager, at ACC Liverpool, said: “We’re looking forward to working with The Liverpool Wedding Show as our new partners and organisers of what has always been a popular event for suppliers and visitors.”

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Katie Piper at the launch

The Katie Piper Foundation, dedicated to supporting people with burns and scars, has launched a new North West partnership with Steps Together, a UK health, wellbeing and addiction organisation.

The Katie Piper Foundation will now offer its rehabilitation and scar management services for survivors of burns and traumatic scarring, at Steps Together’s North West retreat, the historic Rainford Hall.

The charity, along with founder Katie Piper, joined the team from Steps Together earlier this month as she officially launched the partnership at the former ancestral home of the Pilkington family. The event was attended by Lady Pilkington and her son, Jeremy Pilkington.

The Steps Together Group is a private residential and outpatient health, wellbeing and addiction service that provides luxury residential retreats in Merseyside, Leicestershire, and Nottingham. Steps Together at Rainford Hall, was launched in early 2022 and is set within a country estate surrounded by gardens and woodland. Deputy CEO of Steps Together, Steve Jones, said: “Steps Together at Rainford Hall has partnered with The Katie Piper Foundation to offer improved, private, accommodation for their rehabilitation service for survivors of burns and scars.”

Katie said: “Our new home at Rainford Hall enables us to improve the facilities we offer to our survivors. The setting of Rainford Hall enhances our bespoke and holistic rehabilitation programme, in which we combine expert scar management therapy, psycho-social support and wellbeing activities – giving people who have suffered the absolute worst an opportunity to rebuild their lives after leaving the outstanding emergency and acute care of the NHS.”

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CoolKit site

Burnley business CoolKit is back operating days after a devastating blaze that destroyed one of its two manufacturing units.

CoolKit, a £20m turnover specialist in temperature-controlled vans, has implemented a robust recovery plan to enable the business to remain operational in the immediate aftermath of the fire. Production and operations have successfully been relocated to its second unit on the same industrial estate as the affected unit.

CoolKit is also searching for new premises and expects ‘business as usual’ will resume by the end of September.

Managing director, Daniel Miller, said: “We acted quickly over the weekend to put in place a robust and staged recovery plan which means that the business has been able to remain operational. The company has in place comprehensive insurance and we will use this to ensure we get back to full production as soon as possible.”

He added: “To ensure we meet our ongoing production requirements efficiently we will implement an increased operational schedule.”