The Purposeful Strategist, a podcast from Menkus & Associates in partnership with Norman Broadbent, shares conversations with CEOs on how they translate organisational purpose into bold strategy, real impact, and lasting results.
How can a different approach to healthcare make quality treatment more accessible while keeping people at the heart of the business? In this episode, Tom Woolgrove, Chief Executive of Benenden Health, explores the role of mutual healthcare in the UK and why a model built around members rather than shareholders can offer a distinctive approach to private healthcare.
Founded in 1905 as the Post Office Sanatorium Society, Benenden Health has grown to support more than 875,000 members across the UK. Tom explains how its not-for-profit mutual structure allows the organisation to focus on members’ long-term health needs. Rather than aiming to maximise returns for shareholders, the business is centred on providing practical healthcare support and helping people access treatment when they need it.
The conversation examines how Benenden complements the NHS by helping members access everyday elective procedures and diagnostic services that can involve long waiting times. Tom discusses the importance of supporting people with routine healthcare needs while recognising the NHS’s central role in acute and critical care. He also challenges the perception that private healthcare is only available to the wealthy, highlighting Benenden’s membership model, with rates of around £16 per month at the time discussed, as an alternative designed to make healthcare support more accessible.
For Tom, leading Benenden is about more than running a healthcare business. It is about seeing the tangible difference the organisation makes to its members and demonstrating how a purpose-led, mutual model can deliver both meaningful social value and a sustainable business. His experience offers a compelling perspective on the contribution mutual healthcare can make to the wider UK health system.