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Commercial Healthcare Lawyers

Many healthcare providers in England and Wales are privately owned and managed with a corporate business structure. Often, they provide a service to NHS and local authorities as well as private individuals. Whoever their clients are, due to the nature and responsibilities associated with their services, they must comply with sometimes complicated regulations.

These regulations add complexity to transactions involving healthcare practices. Specialist legal advice from solicitors who understand the intricacies of the requirements is necessary for any corporate, property or financial transaction. Clarke Willmott can provide the full range of legal services that your business needs.

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Why use Clarke Willmott’s specialist commercial healthcare solicitors?

  • Our detailed understanding ensures that nothing is missed during the due diligence process. You can be confident risk is minimised and opportunity is maximised.
  • Timing is crucial in healthcare transactions. Ensuring that everything is in place with the relevant regulatory bodies can take time. Specialist legal advice ensures business continuity on completion.
  • Knowledge of the relevant regulations and common standard form contracts means that your solicitors can plan for every eventuality and safeguard against unexpected interruptions. This means that your transaction will complete as smoothly as possible.

Our healthcare law specialists

Our solicitors have experience of working with an extensive range of clients within the healthcare sector, including owner operators, lenders and investors. We have the expertise to help you navigate the regulations and manage the requirements of your governing body or local authority contracts in the most efficient way possible.

Examples of the areas we advise on include:

  • Buying or selling a healthcare business, including international transactions
  • Company formations and partnership incorporations
  • Reorganisations and changes in partnerships
  • Private equity investments
  • Banking and finance advice for borrowers and lenders
  • Bank finance for acquisitions, developments, refinancing and equity releases
  • Compliance with regulations and dealing with breaches
  • Inquests and regulatory investigations
  • Commercial property, including transferring a commercial or NHS lease
  • Contract procurement
  • Employment law, including transfers under TUPE and defending claims for unfair dismissal
  • Data protection, including GDPR
  • Litigation and civil dispute resolution

Who we act for

  • Owners and operators of businesses
  • Banks and other lenders
  • Healthcare groups in the UK and overseas
  • Private equity investors
  • Individual practitioners who are buying into a healthcare business
  • Individual practitioners who are selling a healthcare business

 

Our areas of expertise in the healthcare sector

Specialist legal advice for dental practices

We can support you with:

  • Transferring a General Dental Services (GDS) contract between partners
  • Taking the steps needed to allow you to sell if you operate under a Personal Dental Services (PDS) agreement
  • Seeking consent to transfer a PDS agreement
  • Meeting requirements of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the General Dental Council (GDC), including fitness to practice
  • Registering or de-registering as a manager with the CQC
  • Defending disciplinary sanctions by primary care trusts (PCT) and /or PCT ‘claw back.

Examples of our work with dental practices:

Your key contact

Matthew Dootson

Specialist legal advice for pharmacies

We can support you with:

  • Dealing with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), including registration of new ownership, transfer of ownership and scheduling completion to ensure business continuity
  • Applying for inclusion on the NHS England Pharmaceutical list
  • Requesting consent from NHS England for asset sales, share sales where required, and transfer of ownership
  • CQC processes and compliance
  • Registering change of ownership of the pharmacy premises with the GPhC
  • Buying and selling pre-trading NHS Pharmacy Consents
  • Understanding FP34 Schedule of Payment and any associated issues
  • Pharmaceutical Needs Assessments (PNA)
  • Pharmacy Regulation, including Change of Ownership and Pharmacy Relocation
  • Understanding your NHS Contract and how it affects your transaction
  • Advising on the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework 2019
  • Commercial contracts for wholesale pharmacies, manufacturers and distributors
  • Joint venture agreements with GP practices
  • Compliance with NHS (Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013
  • Buying or selling an online pharmacy
  • Terms and conditions for your online pharmacy

Examples of our work with pharmacies:

  • Representing the bank on lending to a pharmacist to acquire a practice and dealing with the security package required
  • Advising pharmacists on the acquisition of shares in a pharmacy practice and negotiating buyer protections.
  • Acting for the bank in the securing of a loan against a pharmacy business where the borrower was acquiring the business and a lease of the premises from the seller

Your key contact

Kim Klahn 

Specialist legal advice for GP practices

We can support you with:

  • The implementation of a large-scale multi-tier GP partnerships and multi-practice organisation models in the primary care sector
  • Registration with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and compliance with their regulations
  • Registration with the General Medical Council (GMC) and compliance with their regulations
  • Ensuring compliance with the Goodwill rules as set out in the NHS Act 2006
  • Joint ventures with pharmacies
  • Applications for consent from NHS Area Trust team
  • Adjustments to NHS Trust contracts
  • Warranty claims
  • Assisting with retirement if a 1890 partnership agreement is in place
  • Transferring NHS terms of employment to your GP practice under TUPE

Examples of our work with GP practices:

  • Advising on one of the first large mergers of GP practices in Birmingham
  • Advising on the employment aspects of a sale of a GP partnership to a limited company.
  • Advising a GP practice on the interpretation of Agenda for Change, which contains the standard NHS employment terms

Your key contact

Matt Dootson 

Specialist legal advice for veterinary practices

We can support you with:

  • Business formation or incorporation
  • Trading terms and conditions
  • Employment contracts
  • Agreements between partners or shareholders
  • Succession planning
  • Buying a practice
  • Selling a practice
  • Directors service contracts
  • Commercial contracts with suppliers
  • Joint ventures with other practices

Examples of our work with veterinary practices:

  • Acting for the shareholders in the sale of the entire issued share capital of a company operating a regional veterinary practice from multiple sites to CVS (UK) Ltd
  • Acted for the seller in the disposal of FarmVets South West Limited to Origin Group Finance Limited
  • Acted for the partners of a multi-location veterinary practice in its eight figure disposal whilst securing their continued involvement in the business
  • Acted for the sellers in the disposal the entire issued share capital of a local family veterinary practice to a large international corporate, Linnaeus Group (part of Mars)

Your key contact

Kirill Bingham

Specialist legal advice for children’s day nurseries

We can support you with:

  • Ofsted compliance
  • Registration with Ofsted and the Early Years Register, including health declaration and DBS checks
  • Compliance with Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
  • Continuity of business whilst waiting for your Ofsted registration to complete
  • Advice on the legal requirements of staffing a nursery

Examples of our work with children’s day nurseries:

  • Acted for Haslington Nursery on the sale of two nurseries to Kids Planet Group. “We would definitely recommend Clarke Willmott to our friends should they decide to sell their nurseries.” Paul and Alison Summer, Seller, Haslington Nursey
  • Acted for Eduko Education Limited on the private equity investment in a children’s nurseries group and simultaneous acquisition of Buttons Group
  • Acted for Eduko Education Ltd on the acquisition of two children’s nurseries
  • Advised on the sale of Rainbow Nursery, two Cheshire day nurseries, to Kids Planet day nurseries group.
  • Advised a company in a group operating children’s day nurseries on a bank financing

Your key contact

Simon Smith

Specialist legal advice for care homes

We can support you with:

  • Registration with the Care Quality Commission (CQC)
  • Challenging draft inspection reports (including ratings) before publication
  • Challenging final ratings through the CQC’s ratings review process and judicial review
  • Objecting to warning notices as well as assisting with consultations by the CQC
  • Objecting to proposals, such as to prohibit further admissions, as well as assisting with consultations by the CQC
  • Opposing applications to close a home by the CQC to a magistrate
  • Appealing against decisions by the CQC and orders from magistrates
  • Compliance with the Health and Social Care Act 2008
  • Assisting with inquests

Examples of our work with care homes

  • Advised on the sale of a longstanding care home in Sherbourne, Dorset. “The patience, perseverance and prudence of Kirill together with his good humour were a huge input to me and to the whole process of the sale of my care home. I cannot recommend Clarke Willmott highly enough.” John and Pat Appleyard
  • Sale of the entire issued share capital of a care home operating company and related properties.
  • Advised on the sale of a care home to a multi-national US healthcare business
  • Purchase of a site for the construction of a 75 bed care home
  • Advised on a £34,000,000 financing for a group comprising three bilateral loan facilities
  • Advised on a £7,000,000 financing for a specialist award-winning provider
  • Advised on a £6,000,000 financing for a high-end provider
  • Advised a national group on regulations, laws and a litigation strategy
  • Advised on a dispute regarding payments alleged to be due to a building contractor
  • Advised a business with respect to the acquisition of three mature trading care homes

Resources​

Preparing to sell your care home Find out what you need to consider if you are selling your care home in our ‘Preparing to sell your care home’ brochure.
Care quality commission Our CQC brochure guides you through what you can do if you are facing a bad rating or enforcement by the CQC.
Bank loans for your care home Our guide to bank loans for your care homes talks you through structuring, negotiations and the relationship with action by the CQC.
Buying a trading care home If you are looking to buy a trading care home, find out what you need to think about in our Buying a trading care home guide.

Your key contacts

Kirill Bingham and Rich Eldridge.

Contact a specialist healthcare solicitor today

If you would like to find out more about how our dedicated Healthcare lawyers can support you and your business, please contact a member of our team directly, call us on 0800 652 8025 or get in touch online.

Clarke Willmott has offices in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, London, Manchester, Southampton and Taunton.

Kim Klahn

Partner

Birmingham
Kim understands her clients, advises on the law whilst taking into consideration any risks to add value to her clients and achieve their commercial outcomes.
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Bridget Sanger

Senior Associate

Bristol
Bridget defends, represents and advises companies and individuals investigated and/or prosecuted in the criminal courts, with particular specialism in regulatory work surrounding agriculture and regulatory work surrounding care homes
View profile for Bridget Sanger >

Meet our Healthcare team

With seven offices throughout England and Wales, Clarke Willmott is a national law firm with a local presence. Click to learn more about our wider team of legal professionals and how they can support you.

Meet the team

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