Agencia set to sign first contract in China
Change management business Agencia is confident of securing its first contract in China after attending a major healthcare trade mission headed by UK Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt.
The independent, family-owned and run business based in Hessle, East Yorkshire, offers bespoke training and services in areas including health care, social care, justice, policing and security reform.
It was chosen to join the Department for International Trade (DIT) mission because of its ability to export its expertise on a range of specialist health and care services to China as Chinese authorities look to move care away from a centralised system based on hospitals into local communities and the home.
Mike Robson, Agencia’s director of health, social care and enterprise, gave a keynote speech during the mission on redesigning mental health services for older people in China.
He said: “Agencia has been strengthening its links with China via the British Embassy, the Great Britain China Centre and a network of UK-based China experts since 2014.
“The UK has a very mature integrated health and care system based in the community, seamlessly linking home care and hospital care and this approach can bring proven benefits to patients and staff, so we were obviously pleased to have the chance to export that message to the Chinese market.”
Helen Gibson, managing director of Agencia, added: “We have invested a lot of time and effort in the Chinese market, including our attending the mission over the past two years and wouldn’t have done so if we didn’t think it would pay off, so we are very hopeful that the signing our first contract gets ever closer.”
Joining Agencia on the mission were Leeds-based TPP, a leading UK provider of innovative software products for health and social care, which signed a strategic co-operation for a new project in Jiangsu province, and Mark Hayter, professor of nursing at the University of Hull specialising in the provision of educational programmes and health workforce training and development.
The mission headed by Jeremy Hunt was the largest ever British healthcare delegation to China with more than 30 organisations visiting Hangzhou, Shanghai and Guangzhou/Shenzhen before moving on to Hong Kong.
Mark Robson, regional director for DIT Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “The presence of Agencia and TPP on the mission reflects the breadth and depth of bespoke expertise not only in health and social care but actually across a wide range of sectors in the Yorkshire and the Humber corporate community, with both businesses selected because of their proven ability to export their know-how to an evolving market in China.”
Mark advised first-time and established exporters to follow the lead of those on the mission by accessing expert advice and information on exporting available via the DIT’s Exporting is GREAT initiative, a key element of the Government’s newly-launched GREAT.gov.uk, a single digital destination for trade and investment, bringing together and connecting UK businesses, international buyers and international investors.
