Entrepreneurs look to take the pain out of back complaints

A NATIONALLY branded network of chiropractor and osteopath clinics is being launched by Yorkshire entrepreneurs David Hood and Andrew Thirkill.

Freedom Back Clinics, which is the brainchild of ATP founder Mr Thirkill, will offer high standards of customer service in conveniently located state-of-the-art clinics.

Initially clinics will be opened on high street locations in major UK towns and cities throughout the North with the first one due to open this Summer.

The concept has already successfully been adopted by a number of similar sectors including dental surgeries, laser eye specialists and cosmetic treatnment clinics.

Mr Thirkill, who will chair the new business, said that Health and Safety Executive (HSE) research showed that back pain will affect four out of five people in the UK resulting in 4.9 million work days being lost each year.

“Despite the potential demand from sufferers and employers the sector is predominantly run as a cottage industry serviced by single practitioners,” he added.

“I therefore identified an excellent opportunity to create a professionally run corporate network, which will benefit from economies of scale and co-ordinated marketing programme.”

Diane McKerracher joins from Optical Express as chief operating officer. Prior to her role at Optical Express she was operations director at Ultralase.

Other members of the board include Christopher Neave, the former chief executive of Ultralase who successfully led the company’s expansion programme until its trade sale in May 2005.

Joining as a non-executive director is Steve Barnes, who initially worked with David Hood at Pace where he was sales and marketing director.

The relationship was renewed when he became chief executive of online local search specialist Infoserve, which was co-founded by Mr Hood.

Mr Thirkill also hold a number of non-executive and marketing consultancy roles with companies such as Infoserve, Ultralase and cosmetic treatement specialists sk:n clinics.

To read TheBusinessDesk.com’s latest interview with the entrepreneur Andrew Thirkhill click here.