Supporting you in a complex world.
The understanding to take on your challenges.
We provide fast, flexible specialist legal advice and support for GP's, primary care and social care providers. We understand your world and the challenges you face, and always tailor our services and the way we work to suit your goals.
Our team has full knowledge of the regulation of healthcare, the Care Quality Commission’s role and the healthcare industry. We keep on top of all the latest developments so we can act proactively on your behalf. We know the regulations imposed by your industry are complex, and appreciate the time and budgetary pressures you’re under. Our advice is always clear and provided with full appreciation of the sector you operate in, giving you the confidence to act.
We are experts in getting GP super surgeries up and running, from the initial site acquisition to the opening ceremony (we were involved in supporting the award of the first NHSE development grant). We can also advise your service users on estate and private wealth matters while in your care.
Like you, we understand the importance of care
We are always looking for better ways of doing things on your behalf, and our number one priority is to protect your investment and interests. We offer City experience without the City fees; our team is partner-led and you’ll always know the member of the team you’re talking to.
We act for a broad range of social care providers, including care homes, residential homes, nursing homes and domiciliary care.
We understand the time demands on care home managers and owners. Our comprehensive support and stringent due diligence process allow you to focus on running your provision and caring for your residents.
Whether you’re responsible for a single home or group of homes, we support you with a wide range of often complex challenges, including all corporate and property aspects of buying, running or selling your home. We can advise on contractual issues (including SLA/SLCs and nomination agreements), employment, HR and staff retention issues for full-time, part-time, volunteers and agency staff; as well as the implications of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2021. We can also manage TUPE requirements to ensure the smooth running of your operations in the event of a merger, takeover or sale.
Care Quality Commission compliance
We know one of your most critical pressures is compliance with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and demonstrating best practice. We can support you through the registration, compliance and enforcement process, including responding to CQC inspection reports, and appealing such reports if findings are incorrect or unjustified. Where the facts and evidence do not support an alleged breach of regulation, we can support you in challenging the CQC. We also defend providers subject to CQC regulatory action, always seeking to resolve matters as quickly as possible.
Our healthcare lawyers provide advice on all aspects of care home ownership, including:
From finding the right site to specialist funding, partnership agreements, surgery expansions and PCT contracts, we provide wide ranging, dependable support for GP surgeries and super surgeries, helping you at every stage of your journey.
Our specialist lawyers have worked with GPs on all aspects of the day-to-day operation and expansion of existing and new surgeries; including funding, third party occupation documents, the formation of limited companies, completion of financial documentation, bespoke property structure documents and NHS rent reimbursements. We’ve also been involved in supporting the award of the first NHS England development grants.
Super surgeries
We understand the constant and increasing pressure GP surgeries are under, with little or no extra support or resource. By grouping together into super surgeries, the additional cover you urgently need is easier to manage and overheads are reduced; allowing you to take care of your patients in an improved environment.
Our specialist team can help every step of the way: from initial discussions with the partners outlining the various options available, to the preparation of both financial and bespoke property structure documents, and the appropriate construction documentation and warranties required to satisfy the NHS and funding requirements.
Additional services
Many super surgeries aim to bring complementary services under one roof, such as pharmacy or dental practices, as well as share treatment rooms with other NHS service providers. We’ve worked with a number of pharmacy and dental practices, in conjunction with occupation, at super surgeries to assist in their own due diligence and administrative set up.
Our healthcare lawyers provide advice on all aspects of GP surgeries and super surgeries, including:
The medical devices, diagnostics and medtech industries are fast moving and highly regulated. We help our clients to seize opportunities and minimise risk.
We act on behalf of leading names in the fields of patient handling devices, mobility devices, needle-free injection systems, lab-grown human skin modelling, anaesthetic gas extraction and purification, perfusion and extra-corporeal life support, and bone cement mixing and delivery systems.
Our team has experience in leading the negotiation of contracts and collaborative arrangements; and we prepare legal agreements to a high level of detail to ensure compliance with both regulatory and legal requirements. We have a good understanding of the laws in other territories, and are experienced in dealing with cross-border negotiations.
We act for a wide range of well known clients, including Dentsply Sirona, Summit Medical Group (including Marlux and Orthodynamics), Spectrum Medical and Insight Medical Products. Our work has involved drafting and/or negotiating supply contracts with names such as Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Cardinal Health, Koninklijke, Zimmer Biomet, Olympus, Smith & Nephew, Edwards Lifesciences, DePuy and Spire Healthcare, as well as a number of UK and US universities and spin-off companies.
Medical research and life sciences
As well as our expertise in the medical devices field, we have considerable knowledge in the sub-sectors of drug discovery, development and e-health, where we work across a wide range of academic institutions, catapults, NHS organisations, pharmaceutical companies, drug manufacturing units, drug distributions centres and CROs, across the UK and beyond. Our expertise extends to drug registration, regulation, pre-clinical trials, clinical trials, spin-outs and more. We also have other specialist areas of expertise, including licensing for Covid-19 testing and the sending and receiving of human tissue samples to labs.
Our healthcare lawyers provide advice on all aspects of medical supplies, devices and research including:
We provide support for vulnerable clients (private individuals and their families) throughout their lifetime, who often have complex and long-lasting health needs
A vulnerable adult is anyone (usually over the age of 18) who may be in need of community care services because of mental or physical disability, their age or health, or because they are unable to look after themselves or are at high risk of experiencing maltreatment, harm or exploitation. This includes people in detention in psychiatric hospitals or elsewhere, as well as those living at home or in residential care.
In the eyes of the authorities, and under law, vulnerable individuals can include someone who:
Our legal expertise includes setting up financial provisions in terms of Trusts, Wills and gifting, Deputy Orders and managing assets if the individual lacks capacity. We can also provide advice on care needs, options for funding and other welfare matters. Our experience includes securing redress for failures to protect by public bodies, including social services and NHS trusts which have resulted in harm.
We also work with local authority clients and charities working within this sector in these complex areas of law.
Our healthcare lawyers provide advice on all aspects of support for vulnerable individuals, including:
Our experience in the healthcare sector and the particular regulatory issues these businesses face meant that BPE was able to support a range of activities including property purchases, funding and acquisitions. We are proud to be considered a ‘Bu...
Talk to us about your legal challenges and discover how our expert, pragmatic legal advice and broad commercial acumen can help.
