A BUSINESS that helps people feel better about themselves, that’s what judges were looking for when deciding the winner of the first Health and Beauty trophy. At Hyndburn Business Awards, they found the answer in one-stop health hub Baxenden Clinic. The Manchester Road business offers clients help with everything from mental health problems and backache, to sport injuries and an in-growing toenail.
In 2008 Person First Solutions was founded by psychiatric nurse Patrick Doyle, initially as a part-time business. He had been working in a medium secure hospital but said: “I got a sense that the people I was working for were not as passionate about the clients as I was. I had a vision and that is where my business came from. “I began working with larger organisations like Comic Relief and the Mental Health Foundation and the business grew until, in 2012, I went full time.”
In 2014 he bought Baxenden Physio and Sports Injury Clinic and dovetailed the two businesses together in a converted end terrace house and started expanding into training. Now more than half of the company’s turnover comes from physiotherapy and the clinic receives client referrals from insurance companies to assist people who have been injured in accidents. In last year’s award submission, Patrick predicted a 10 per cent increase in turnover but said: “We actually increased by 20 per cent and by the end of this tax year we will have increased that by another big margin again.”
One of the expanding sides of the business is podiatry and although staff remain at eight, they are now all full-time employees, some were previously self-employed, and a further physiotherapist starts work in July. Clients travel from all over Lancashire and Bury to attend sessions and Patrick’s specialised psychiatric skills are in demand world wide; he Skypes a client in America, another in Spain and one in Germany.
He said: “I think our success is because everything we do is thought through and it is all about the client, what they need and how we can help them to help themselves. As a business, our staff are constantly training and developing new skills to be able to help our clients; I was fortunate to have really good mentors who saw my potential and helped me to shine.”
Health and Beauty was a new category in the 2019 Hyndburn Business Awards and its introduction was inspired by sponsor Carla Chatburn of Pure Perfection.
Story by Catherine Smyth Media