Health Partners Group has appointed Ruth Handcock, former chief executive of Octopus Money, as its new CEO, succeeding co-founder Andrew Noble, who has led the occupational health and treatment services provider since founding it a decade ago. Handcock takes up the role on 2 November, with Noble remaining involved as co-chairman alongside the senior leadership team and board.

The appointment follows Health Partners' integration of Medigold Health, which created a workplace healthcare business supporting more than six million employees across the UK and Ireland. Health Partners is backed by private equity firm Warburg Pincus, which took a majority stake in the business in a deal reported by Insider Media to be worth more than £300 million.

Handcock has a track record of building high-growth businesses and is also a non-executive director at the British Business Bank and Seccl, part of Octopus Group.

"Having co-founded Health Partners 10 years ago, I couldn't be more excited to welcome Ruth to the senior leadership team," said Noble. "She brings exactly the kind of thoughtful, ambitious leadership this business needs for its next chapter. We have grown from strength to strength, and this is a natural next step for the team and the business."

"Health Partners is an extraordinary business, and has already had a huge impact, at scale," said Handcock. "I was drawn to the opportunity to build on that foundation, by supporting even more employees with their healthcare needs at work. There is an acute shortage of affordable healthcare support for both employers and employees, and good jobs and healthy workplaces have never mattered more to the UK economy."

The structural driver behind the appointment is continued private equity consolidation of the UK occupational health sector, with sponsors backing scaled platforms capable of serving enterprise clients across absence management, treatment and prevention rather than single-service providers.

For the sector, the leadership change signals that PE-backed occupational health platforms are recruiting outside traditional healthcare leadership as they scale toward broader employer health ecosystems.

Source: laingbuissonnews.com / insidermedia.com