Healthcare business Tend now has a presence in South Island
Healthcare technology firm Tend has bought a stake in a Christchurch-based medical group for an undisclosed sum.
Tend, founded by husband and wife entrepreneurs Cecilia and James Robinson, has taken a 50% share in Better Health, which operates 14 medical centres throughout the lower South Island.
Tend co-chief executive James Robinson and chief network officer John Macaskill-Smith will join the Better Health board, alongside existing directors David Jones and Dr Graham McGeoch. The Robinsons are also cofounders of meal kit company My Food Bag.
App-based Tend allows users to access virtual medical consults with GPs and specialists and has three medical practices in Auckland.
The acquisition of Better Health will mark Tend’s first foray into the South Island, and take the company’s physical healthcare footprint to 17 locations. Better Health has about 100,000 patients on its books.
The technology platform was founded two years ago with aspirations to revolutionise the failing medical system. The platform aims to enable a gig economy style workforce and tackle the issues of staff shortages, burnout and wasted time on administrative tasks.
Co-chief executive Cecilia Robinson said from December, consumers could expect to see purple branding come to some of the 14 Better Health medical centres.
‘‘Growing into the South Island is really important, and growing further afield in the North Island is critical as well because many practices across New Zealand have closed books and people are not able to access healthcare,’’ Robinson said.
‘‘Initially when we thought about Tend we thought we would be more of a virtual healthcare provider but what we realised very quickly was that we couldn’t achieve our objective of making New Zealanders the healthiest people in the world or even delivering the best healthcare experiences through just being online, which is why we have acquired practices.’’
Tend employs 100 staff and under the new arrangement would bring staff numbers to 500.