Feature
Issue No. 40 - April/ /
Healthy choice drives WLA‘s run
Health enterprise Wellness & Lifestyles Australia obviously reasons, if you’re going to pick a name, pick an impressive one. Specialising in aged care, WLA outgrew several premises in recent years as demand spiked thanks to a critical decision.
Director Nick Heywood-Smith says broadening the firm’s product offering was key to the impressive growth spurt.
“Previously we were very much in a niche market providing only physiotherapy services to our clients. We now offer a full range of services and go across these disciplines,” Nick says.
“Our services now include educational training, service provision and consultancy to peak industry bodies including GP divisions.
“To enable this we have had to move premises a couple of times to be able to provide training to our staff and have therapy consultants available at all times. The decisions to make these moves have also been milestones.”
Core services driving growth include physiotherapy, podiatry, speech pathology and dietetics.
“The change in the demographic of SA’s population has also driven our growth,” Nick says. “With the number of elderly people increasing the demand for services has increased.
“We have also noted a huge demand for an increased level of health care service. People are not satisfied with basic service anymore. This includes aged care facilities and private clients; they now expect an improved response time and a more hands-on service with more time being spent with clients.
“Some of our clients also require this (in order) to meet the changing demands of the aged care industry and to improve their facilities - to meet best practice guidelines, for instance.”
Nick says WLA’s original business plan provided useful direction but adaptability was important.
“The plan had to flexible to enable us to meet the changing needs of our clients such as changing aged care funding legislation and changing Me...
