Market Research spotlight on the south-west healthcare sector

At Monahans, we serve a wide range of businesses and organisations across the south-west. To ensure that we are meeting client needs, it is crucial that we stay abreast of the developments taking place in each sector that we operate in, as well as the unique pressures businesses are facing.

As part of these efforts, we surveyed more than 300 micro, small, medium and medium/large-scale enterprises throughout the south-west, to gauge how they’ve been faring over the last year. The research included gaining insights from organisations operating in the healthcare sector - one of Monahans’ key areas of focus.

The UK healthcare sector is a key pillar of society, with the NHS seeing around 1.3million people a day. NHS England alone directly employs 1,308,825 full-time equivalent staff and includes 6,925 GP practices and 229 trusts.

It’s no secret that organisations operating in the healthcare sector have faced a challenging few years. The ongoing fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic combined with rising costs and staff shortages led to record wait times – 7.8 million people were on hospital waiting lists in September 2023. Despite this, from our conversations with clients, sentiment is beginning to shift.

We speak with Iwona Silverio our Client Portfolio Manager and specialist in healthcare, about how the sector is faring and the support Monahans has been providing.

What position are healthcare organisations in?

Despite the issues that the healthcare sector has been facing, the market appears to be balancing out, with organisations moving into a cautiously optimistic position. Respondents, for example, gave the buoyancy of the healthcare market an average score of 7.4 on a scale of 1 to 10 – marginally higher than the average across the south-west (7.0 out of 10).

There have also been financial improvements across the healthcare sector, with 63% of organisations reporting that their business is in a better position than it was 12 months ago – ranking in the top five of all sectors - and 17% of this group reporting being in a much better position.

Additionally, just over half (54%) have reported increases in turnover in the last financial year. And, in spite of staff retention and recruitment difficulties, only 21% of organisations reported needing to make redundancies over the last 12 months – one of the lowest percentages of all sectors.

However, not all are seeing these improvements – almost a third (29%) feel that they are in a worse position than the 12 months previous. And of those who did see a decrease in turnover, the average reduction sat at around 32%, which represented the most significant decrease of all sectors.

What challenges are your clients facing at the moment?

The rising operational costs that are impacting all UK businesses, are clearly taking their toll on the healthcare industry. 42% reported inflation/rising operational costs as the biggest challenge faced in the last year, followed by recruitment/retention (33%) and energy prices (33%).

This is largely expected to continue into the next 6 months, with inflation/rising operational costs anticipated to be the biggest challenge (38%) and recruitment/retention (29%) and generating new business (25%) close behind.

If left unchecked, these issues could easily add extra pressure to the already stretched healthcare service, particularly as we transition into colder months. To navigate through this period, healthcare organisations will need to rely on support from accountants to streamline and improve their financial processes and to future-proof their business.

How we can help

Whilst accountants cannot take away uncertainties, they can give healthcare organisations the tools and guidance to manage and navigate them as effectively as possible. At Monahans we utilise our expertise to ensure that our clients have the ability to adapt to the ever-changing healthcare landscape.

We provide a range of services that will help practice and hospital managers to monitor budgets, track expenses, carry out forecasting and financial modelling, and devise financial plans, enabling them to operate efficiently within their means. This ensures that resources are allocated effectively to prevent financial strain and enables the practice to deliver optimal patient care.

At Monahans we are experiencing an increased demand for assistance across all financial elements of healthcare organisations, including bookkeeping, managing tax liabilities pension contributions, and succession planning.

We’re here to help clients navigate whatever might be on the horizon - relieving some of the weight sitting on their shoulders, so that they can focus on what is important.

Our dedicated team of specialist medical accountants work with practices and individual healthcare professionals on a daily basis, and with our knowledge and experience, we are confident we can help practices to thrive and individuals to feel supported and in control of their financial outcomes.

With years of experience in providing healthcare accounting services, we are proud to be able to offer you an accountancy service that is specifically tailored to your needs and strives to translate numbers into meaning. Get in touch with the team today.

To download the full report, visit the Monahans website: https://www.monahans.co.uk/publications/swresearch-july24

Iwona Silverio