In continuous efforts to introduce new medical ideas, BUPA Middle East, the leading health care insurer in Saudi Arabia, organized a medical presentation in the Al Qasr ballroom at the Jeddah Hilton Hotel, presented by Dr. Andrew Vallance-Owen, Medical Director of BUPA Group, who addressed an impressive gathering of influential members of the health industry on managing clinical care and introducing new ideas.
Dr. Andrew Vallance-Owen qualified at the Birmingham University Medical School, later undertaking surgical training in New Castle upon Tyne and Melbourne, Australia. He is the Head of Policy Development in British Medical Association (BMA) and he became Secretary of the BMA Charitable Trusts and frequently acts as a spokesman for the BMA and the medical profession. He became BUPA’s Group Medical Director in 1995 where he has furthered his interests in the quality of health care, clinical audit and outcomes.
The medical presentation which was attended by more than 200 top hospital CEOs and specialist doctors covered new ideas in managing clinical care with the vision “caring for the lives in our hands” and inspired by “helping customers live longer healthier lives”. As a real life case study, Dr. Vallance-Owen discussed the cancer initiative which insures BUPA members with cancer prompt treatment; he also gave a case study where the risk of death form breast cancer was lowered by 20%. He stressed that BUPA seeks to help customers live healthier by providing appropriate, high quality clinical care with an outcome that benefits the patient.
Upon conclusion, Dr. Andrew Vallance-Owen highlighted that clinical governance alone is not enough to ensure appropriate care and insurers have a role to play in motivating change whose value must be demonstrated to patients/members.
BUPA Middle East (soon to be known in the market as BUPA Arabia), is part of the BUPA Group, one of largest international private health insurance companies, with an annual turnover that exceeds USD 5.6 billion. BUPA serves more than 7.8 million members in over 180 counties and is the leading health insurance provider in the UK, Spain, and Hong Kong and is growing rapidly in Ireland, Australia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Singapore and China. Recently, BUPA International further expanded its reach with the acquisition of AMEDEX based in the United States and IHI.
The BUPA Group owns and manages 25 hospitals, most of them with ISO 9002 certification, 297 care homes and 34 health screening centres throughout the UK, 49 special care complexes, 40 children’s nurseries and 220 approved health clubs. It employs more than 41,000 employees worldwide. The BUPA Group follows a long-term strategy of improving services and health care support by investing all its profits back into the business.
