Setting up a healthcare practice

Regulatory issues

We assist clients to appropriately register their businesses with regulators such as the CQC, ensure they have suitably qualified staff, deal with complaints, consider their regulatory obligations and much more.

Structuring your business

We can advise on the appropriate corporate structure for your business, including the differences between operating as a sole trader or partnership, or incorporating as a company or limited liability partnership (LLP). Once you have chosen a business structure, we can advise on the best means of regulating relationships between a company, its directors and its shareholders, and between an LLP and its members. We can draft bespoke documents to reflect your priorities and to best protect your interests, including your shareholders’ agreement, articles of association, LLP agreement and all ancillary agreements and resolutions.

Commercial contracts and data protection

We can also assist by drafting your client-facing suite of terms and conditions relating to the provision of the health and wellbeing services that you provide, including:

• Standard terms and conditions with clients, incorporating your key commercial terms of service (e.g. payment provisions) and all relevant provisions required under consumer protection laws and your regulatory obligations.
• GDPR-compliant privacy notice setting out the basis upon which you process your client’s personal data, including provisions relating to your processing of any special categories of personal data, such as that relating to health. We can also advise more widely on your compliance with applicable data protection laws.
• Website terms of use to set out the basis upon which a visitor to your business’ website site may access and use it.
• Cookies policy to provide visitors to your website with details of such cookies and the purposes for which they are used e.g. tracking visitor numbers and behaviour whilst on the site.
• An acceptable use policy to set out the rules and standards governing any functionality which allows visitors to your site to upload comments and/or materials.

Employment

We advise on both the document side of maintaining a workforce and also dealing with day to day HR issues such as:

• Drafting contracts for employees and independent contractors
• Drafting employee-related data protection materials and employee handbooks
• Advising on procedures such as performance management, sickness, grievances and disciplinary issues
• Liaising with regulatory colleagues in circumstances where disciplinary issues may involve communications with regulators
• Conducting internal investigations
• Representing your business in court and tribunal claims

Further information for health and wellbeing practitioners

If you would like more information or require advice in relation to any of the above areas, please contact a member of our team. It may also be helpful to consider the following:

• What health and wellbeing services do you plan to/already offer?
• Are any of your services regulated?
• If so, do you have suitably qualified staff?
• What clinical governance arrangements do you have in place?
• What is the corporate status of your business e.g. sole trader, partnership, limited liability partnership or limited liability company?
• If your business is incorporated, do you have a shareholders’ agreement, partnership agreement or LLP agreement in place? If so, please provide us with a copy.
• Do you have any current client-facing terms and conditions e.g. standard terms and conditions of service, privacy notice, website terms and conditions or cookies policy? If so, please provide us with all relevant copies.
• Are you registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office? If so, on what date did you last update your registration?

Our specialist health and wellbeing solicitors are perfectly placed to assist you with these, and any other questions that you may have.