Member Article

Totally Plc makes £11m move for Newcastle’s Vocare

Newcastle-based care firm Vocare is on the verge of being acquired by Health care services group Totally Plc, in a proposed £11m deal.

Totally, which provides a range of out-of-hospital services to the UK healthcare sector, today (October 6) revealed it has reached a condition agreement to acquire the Balliol Business Park-based business.

The firm’s directors believe described the opportunity as a ‘transformational step for Totally in the implementation of its stated buy and build strategy as it looks to become a leader of Out-of-Hospital care in a growing UK market’ - estimated to be worth in excess of £20bn per year.

Vocare is one of the leading providers of integrated urgent care services to the NHS throughout the UK including GP out-of-hours services, the NHS 111 service via its call centres and urgent care centres working in conjunction with NHS A&E departments. Vocare provides healthcare services to CCGs covering approximately 9.2 million patients nationally.

Wendy Lawrence, CEO of Totally, commented: “We are delighted to announce this pivotal acquisition for Totally, a key milestone in our buy and build strategy as we continue to act as a consolidator within the fragmented UK healthcare market and build ourselves as a leading out-of-hospital healthcare services provider.

“We believe this acquisition will add critical mass and significantly strengthen and augment our market positioning thanks to the operational and financial benefits it brings.

“Vocare is one of the leading providers of outsourced urgent care services, which is highly complementary to Totally’s business model and offers synergies with our existing businesses allowing us to further enhance and diversify our offering.”

Lawrence added: “I look forward to updating the market in due course as we look to complete and integrate this latest acquisition into the group and continue to build the company into one of the leading providers of out-of-hospital care in the UK.”