New 5 year contract gives overseas staff and travelling workers from 19 government departments access to wide-ranging healthcare support.

Global travel risk management and international medical and security assistance provider, Healix International, has won an Open Procurement Procedure to be appointed by the UK Government to look after the global healthcare of its 25,000 travelling and overseas workers until 2025. The contract, under the One HMG banner, is the third successive renewal with Healix International and means it is now entering its tenth year of 24/7 365 day care for government staff and their families overseas. Working for 19 different departments including the Ministry of Defence (MOD), Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the 5 year contract also includes an option to extend for a further two years, until 2027.

Central to the renewal of the Healix International contract was the commitment to ensure that government staff and their families receive a level of care equivalent to the NHS, even though healthcare in many of the countries in which they work operates at lower standards. The comprehensive health screening of UK government staff and their families before they go abroad was another crucial facet of the contract, ensuring that medical risks are anticipated and mitigated against wherever possible. The low level of medical repatriations carried out over the last contract period is testament to the effectiveness of the Healix screening process, combined with the high quality local medical support where it is needed.

As part of the five year contract Healix also delivers occupational health support for staff from FCDO and FCDO Services, two key government departments, as well as mental health support for all government employees abroad.  Greater focus has been placed on digitisation of processes, including the creation of a brand new One HMG global healthcare hub, enabling government staff and families to access all the medical resources they need from one centre of excellence.

“UK government staff and families live and work in over 190 different countries, with varying degrees of local medical care”, explained Russell Smith, Director of Government Services, Healix International. “It’s vital, therefore, that they know they and their families can access the healthcare support they need – to the same standards they would expect if they were in the UK.  We like overseas staff and their families to think of us as their overseas GP, where they can access all levels of primary and secondary medical healthcare just when they need it.”

The far-reaching package of care will incorporate:

• Medical screening and risk mitigation for all travellers, overseas staff and their families
• Elective and non-elective primary and secondary healthcare globally
• Medical advice and second opinion
• Emergency medical evacuation and repatriation
• On-going medical case management
• Ability to provide medical staff at overseas locations if required
• Occupational Health for FCDO and FCDO Services employees abroad and in the UK including psychological assessments and remote support in the more difficult environments.

Mike Webb, CEO of Healix International added: “Now in our tenth year of working for the British government, I believe that the success of our longstanding relationship is down to keeping one step ahead of the changing requirements needed to keep the government’s overseas staff and their families, and their travelling workers, supported across all aspects of their healthcare.  In particular, as awareness of mental health issues increasingly comes to the forefront of society, we’re delighted to be extending the range of services we provide to government workers to include mental wellbeing support.

 “This latest renewal of our contract will also see us capitalise on digital innovation to provide government staff and their families with an ever-more streamlined process to access information and medical assistance when they need it.  Combined with our cost containment expertise, this means we can give government departments the confidence that the right care is provided to their employees whilst effectively managing their healthcare budgets.”

Healix International is a global provider of travel risk management and international medical, security and travel assistance services. Working on behalf of multinationals, governments, NGOs and insurers they look after the welfare of expatriates, travellers, offshore workers and local nationals in every country of the world. Healix provide a comprehensive, integrated range of solutions to help safeguard the health and security of their clients’ employees, providing a single point of contact to access the expertise and help they may need, wherever they are in the world, 24/7.

For more information please visit: www.healix.com

There’s no question that the landscape for international business travel has changed beyond recognition.

Recent research by the Institute of Travel Management found that 38% of corporate travel managers expect their firm’s travel plans and budgets for 2021 to be down by 25% to 50% compared to 2019. However, for many organisations that operate on an international footprint there is also an imperative to get employees moving again, and for expat workers to be located abroad. And with this requirement comes all the usual risks – as well as COVID-19.

In response, Healix International, the security and health risk management business has developed a new suite of tools to give risk managers vital control to meet their duty-of-care obligations. Healix Sentinel brings together five solutions to provide global organisations with vital tools to stay informed of the risks their employees and operations may face and take appropriate action wherever they are across the globe. 

“This year has been extraordinary and organisations around the world are adjusting to a new way of working to ensure business continuity and productivity,” explained Mike Webb, CEO of Healix International. “But remote working can only go so far, and it is critical for many businesses that travel resumes. While COVID-19 brings a new dynamic, all the other risks associated with working abroad, such as earthquakes, terrorist activities or staff experiencing other health related emergencies, remain.

“Whether it is risk associated with COVID-19, or a country’s political landscape, we understand the importance of balance. Excessive risk management programmes can be burdensome and costly, while inadequate cover leaves an organisation vulnerable to operational disruption, reputational damage and potential litigation.”

Developed by experts in crisis management and risk mitigation, the Healix Sentinel suite of services goes beyond the traditional travel risk space to focus instead on ‘people’ risk management, whether they are travelling or not. Another refreshing way the Sentinel platform stands out is the way the client risk manager – rather than the employee - is seen as the primary stakeholder. As Mike Webb adds; “Often the client only has a small team, or a single individual, responsible for risk mitigation. That’s a heavy burden. The Sentinel platform addresses that by making their lives easier and acting as a force multiplier.”

Risk managers can tailor Healix Sentinel to fit their own specific requirements, choosing the mix of services that will complement and support existing security resources. Alternatively, Healix International can provide a fully managed 24/7 ‘virtual’ security department, delivering timely, actionable intelligence using cutting-edge technology to provide location specific insights and monitoring of incidents. In doing so, it gives risk managers peace of mind that they are providing employees with the highest level of duty-of-care.

“Our holistic approach encompasses planning, preparing and taking appropriate action as and when required. By providing a solution scalable to specific needs, this new suite of offerings allows risk managers to capitalise on opportunities in challenging environments within their own risk parameters,” concluded Mike Webb.

“As well as helping tackle an organisation’s risk management concerns and giving peace of mind, Healix Sentinel helps an organisation maintain a competitive advantage and will enhance its reputation as a secure and compliant organisation.”

The Healix Sentinel range includes:

Healix Sentinel Protect

The flagship service gives risk/security managers 24/7 access to a team of crisis and risk management experts. From travel security briefings and situation updates to incident and crisis response and evacuations, it is a virtual 24/7 Global Security Operations Centre (GSOC). Risk managers benefit from tailored analysis, second opinions and bespoke risk assessments to proactively mitigate risks before they become problematic, and expert assistance when incidents do occur. Furthermore, the service can be tailored to be, or support, an organisation’s in-house resources.

Healix Sentinel Tracker

This tool allows risk/security managers to seamlessly monitor and account for their globally mobile workforce via integration with the Healix Sentinel Travel Oracle mobile app. Security alerts and notifications are issued in a timely manner and managers can quickly locate and communicate with employees during a critical incident to ensure their safety.  With ‘Location Services’ activated by employees on their app, risk managers are provided with an accurate, real-time global view of their employees on an interactive map.

Healix Sentinel Critical Watch

Providing a cost-effective solution to extend a security team’s capabilities, Healix Sentinel Critical Watch is ideal for organisations lacking the in-house resources to monitor employees’ safety around-the-clock. The Healix International team provides 24/7 monitoring of global incidents. And in the immediate aftermath of a critical incident, the team reaches out to employees in the vicinity who could be impacted. Their safety is ascertained, and appropriate action can be taken according to the situation.

Healix Sentinel Travel Oracle App

Available on Android and iOS, the Healix Sentinel Travel Oracle app is an invaluable travel safety companion for a global workforce. Through alerts and comprehensive background travel and security briefings on over 200 countries, it provides instant access to critical insight and support before and during overseas assignments. As well as providing current travel safety information, advice and real-time alerts on breaking news, the app has a tracking function and enables travellers to share live location data or manually ‘check-in’ at pre-agreed milestones with a direct feed into the Healix Sentinel Tracker platform.

Healix Sentinel Intelligence Portal

This portal is designed to provide risk managers with up-to-date intelligence on global risks that could impact their operations. The dashboard displays a concise summary of information relating to ongoing incidents, risk levels and trends. Alerts are updated to the platform in real-time by our risk analysts who monitor, verify and assess the impact of incidents as they happen.

The Intelligence Portal also has detailed intelligence summaries on every country worldwide, providing risk managers with in-depth contextual information. A number of different reports can be accessed such as a weekly forecast, evacuation watch and threat report.

Healix International is a global provider of travel risk management and international medical, security and travel assistance services. Working on behalf of multinationals, governments, NGOs and insurers they look after the welfare of expatriates, travellers, offshore workers and local nationals in every country of the world. Healix provide a comprehensive, integrated range of solutions to help safeguard the health and security of their clients’ employees, providing a single point of contact to access the expertise and help they may need, wherever they are in the world, 24/7.

For more information about Healix Sentinel please visit: www.healix.com

Leading international health and security provider, Healix International, has announced plans to integrate with SAP® Concur® solutions. SAP Concur is the world’s leading brand for travel, expense and invoice management solutions. The new version of the Healix Sentinel Tracker will leverage SAP Concur data to address the safety challenges facing employers with global workforces.

“In today’s world, with the persistent risk of high-impact localised security incidents occurring in even some of the safest environments, the pressure on security managers has never been higher,” explained Mike Webb, CEO of Healix International. “And one of the big challenges at times of critical incidents is finding an efficient and effective way to locate and communicate with employees that may be affected.”

“The Healix Sentinel Tracker tackles this hurdle by tapping into the wealth of health and security intelligence gathered by our network of experts on an hourly, daily and weekly basis. We will integrate with the SAP Concur Itinerary API, which delivers comprehensive traveller location data from Concur® Travel, Concur® TripLink, TripIt® from Concur and Concur® Request. The result is rapid location of employees that could be impacted by a critical incident and real-time communications to ascertain their safety and provide assistance at times of critical need.”

The Healix Sentinel Tracker will utilise the travel and employee profile information to effectively pinpoint the location of a company’s business travellers, expatriate workers and local nationals across the globe. Risk managers are therefore able to monitor and account for their globally mobile workforce via integration with the Healix Sentinel Travel Oracle mobile app.

With ‘Location Services’ activated by employees on the app, they receive alerts based on their physical location while risk managers are provided with an accurate, real-time global view of their employees on an interactive map and alerted of any incidents where they have employees in that location. Security alerts and notifications are pushed to employees and risk managers in a timely manner with incident level thresholds configurable according to each client’s specific requirements. A full audit trail of messages also is retained.

Alerts are published in real-time by Healix International’s intelligence analysts who monitor, corroborate and analyse breaking developments and potential threats as they happen. Impact radius or geo-fencing can be used to ensure that alerts and notifications are only targeted at employees in affected locations, reducing disengagement caused by issuing generic alerts irrelevant to other employees.

When a critical incident occurs, the geo-fencing feature can be used to rapidly identify all employees in the affected area, with contact made via the integrated communication capabilities to quickly ascertain each individual’s safety and wellbeing. Clients can use the platform to manage this process themselves or outsource the responsibility to Healix’s in-house security operations team.

Features of the Healix Sentinel Tracker include:

• App-based tracking tool, providing greater accuracy in terms of location data
• Will be integrated with:
  • Desktop tracking platform for risk managers
  • Healix medical and security content
  • Concur Travel, Concur TripLink, TripIt and Concur Request
• Enhanced risk management controls to increase organisational situational awareness
• Automated alert notifications and intelligence for employees and travellers 
  • Data set includes alerts via app, email and/or SMS and country briefing reports
  • Configurable thresholds for risk intelligence notifications
• Employer notification of exposure in relation to an incident
• Notification of an employee’s request for assistance
• Fully integrated mass notification system for communication with all global employees
• Geo-fencing and messaging capabilities
• ‘Check-in’ feature that allows an employee or traveller to manually ‘check-in’ at a particular location 24/7, showing up on the map within the system.

The Healix Sentinel Tracker is complemented by the Healix Sentinel Critical Watch service as Mike Webb explained: “A critical incident affecting a global workforce could happen at any time of the day or night, anywhere in the world. But if an organisation does not have the in-house resource to provide around the clock monitoring, the employer’s duty of care can be seriously undermined. Healix Sentinel Critical Watch pairs with the Healix Sentinel Tracker to deliver 24/7 support on an employer’s behalf. In the event of a critical incident, our in-house Global Security Operations Centres will immediately identify employee exposure within an incident impact radius and proactively reach out to ascertain their safety on the company’s behalf.

Despite air travel being at a historic all-time low and practically the whole world in lockdown, over the last four months global travel risk management and international medical and security assistance provider, Healix International, has provided a crucial service to individuals abroad.

Key data

• Arranged over 100 medical repatriations
• Handled almost 5,300 medical helpline calls
• Immense network of agents, fixers on the ground and anyone with the potential to assist in getting aircraft into and out of often remote locations, ensured that those unwell and unable to return to the UK through normal routes have been assisted

During the last four months, COVID-19 has presented new challenges to international medical assistance, such as sourcing testing for patients in some of the most remote locations around the world, securing an isolation pod transfer of positive patients, and securing intensive care admissions during a pandemic both within and outside of the UK. There has also often been delicate negotiation required behind the scenes for diplomatic permits to allow access into a country.

Mike Webb, CEO of Healix International commented: “Since mid-March we have been faced with a multifaceted sequence of events that not only changed daily, but pushed us into unknown territory when it comes to repatriation. Borders closed in a domino effect across the world, aircrafts were unable to land to retrieve patients as a result and additional bureaucratic hurdles needed to be jumped.

RELATED READING: iPMI Magazine Speaks With Mike Webb, CEO, Healix International

“A typical day could comprise repatriation challenges for patients in India, Afghanistan, Iraq, DRC, Somalia and South Sudan. The complexity of each case is so individualised; based on location, nationality and capabilities of the local provider, each case demanding undivided focus and attention that have seen 12-hour days disappear in a flash.

“One thing the pandemic highlighted was that collaboration is crucial. Effective teamwork, a multipronged approach reaching across our provider network, together with diversity and forward thinking, allowed us to repatriate/evacuate patients safely. Our teams are highly experienced individuals and are well versed in delivering a service in challenging circumstances. While the pandemic has brought us new logistical challenges, our clients also had the assurance we are always working within the UK government’s guidance as well as those of the specific client and country, to ensure the safety and health of all involved.”

Alongside the repatriation team, Healix International’s medical desk has been working intensively medically managing cases, liaising with medical teams all over the world and working in partnership to try to facilitate repatriation where possible. Where patients were unable to return home for whatever reason, the teams provided long term medical plans to ensure their health and safety whilst waiting for the world to reopen.

Now as travel corridors are opened up – enabling travellers to more than 50 countries to return to the UK without having to quarantine - the focus on the wellbeing of employees working abroad becomes ever more critical as Mike Webb explained:

“Now as we enter the next phase, with lockdown easing in many countries and the UK reducing restrictions on those coming from numerous countries around the world, we are preparing ourselves for a new set of challenges. Businesses cannot operate via virtual conference tools forever; business critical travel needs to resume, and for many, that needs to happen now. However, employee expectations and legislation have drastically changed and organisations across every industry are faced with the difficulty of demonstrating their duty of care obligations to their employees in an incredibly complex operating environment, particularly when it comes to weighing up the risks of international travel.

“In response we have developed COVID Travel Safe a one-of-a-kind layered risk assessment tool that has been designed to enable business travel within a pandemic, and to provide instant assessments of the medical and logistical risks posed by each and every unique proposed travel itinerary.”

Healix International is a global provider of travel risk management and international medical, security and travel assistance services. Working on behalf of multinationals, governments, NGOs and insurers they look after the welfare of expatriates, travellers, offshore workers and local nationals in every country of the world.

For more information please visit: www.healix.com

Healix International combines cutting edge technology with best in class medical and risk intelligence for highest levels of duty of care.

While the debate continues about 'air bridges' to open up international travel between certain countries, there is a clear imperative for business to re-open around the world. But for many organisations the big issue is how to keep employees safe and well while simultaneously resuming global operations and maintaining profitability.

"Businesses cannot operate via virtual conference tools forever; business critical travel needs to resume, and for many, that needs to happen now", commented Mike Webb, CEO of Healix International. "However, employee expectations and legislation have drastically changed in the wake of COVID-19 and organisations across every industry are faced with the difficulty of demonstrating their duty of care obligations to their employees in an incredibly complex operating environment, particularly when it comes to weighing up the risks of international travel.

"COVID-19 has turned the entire concept of travel risk on its head. For the first time in a generation, risk is highest in parts of the world that have historically been considered the safest, and these countries account for more than 90% of global business travel. Logistical and operational restrictions across the world are changing by the day. And information related to COVID-19 and necessary measures to reduce transmission remains vast, ambiguous, highly complex and often incomplete. Even the most well-resourced organisations are struggling to stay on top of the magnitude of information that is published each day."

In response Healix International is launching 'COVID Travel Safe'. This one-of-a-kind product is a layered risk assessment tool that has been designed to enable business travel within a pandemic, and to provide instant assessments of the medical and logistical risks posed by each and every unique proposed travel itinerary.

Healix International Chief Medical Officer, Dr Adrian Hyzler explained: "We know that in this incredibly challenging time, all businesses need to be supported in resuming operations and providing an increased duty of care to their travellers. This tool allows any organisation to have the confidence to deploy employees safely and with the knowledge that those travelling do not pose a high medical risk of severe disease."

The 'COVID Travel Safe' tool works to protect employees and organisations as follows:

LAYER 1: 'COVID Travel Safe' online tool

The platform experience begins with the user answering a number of questions about their intended trip alongside a COVID-19 specific medical questionnaire. The 'COVID Travel Safe' tool will then generate a medical risk assessment. This assessment combines information about an individual's medical risks with data around the local pandemic conditions and logistical factors in the country of destination. This information is incorporated into an instantly available risk assessment document that the traveller can download.

Healix International's unique methodology measures a range of sub-risk factors including pandemic trend and COVID testing access, alongside practical concerns such as travel bans and curfews. Developed in-house by the Healix International panel of medical experts, the online tool calculates a medical 'risk score' for each individual. Behind the scenes, Healix International's team of medical and risk professionals closely monitor the science, government restrictions and logistical risk environments around the world. This ensures that the information driving 'COVID Travel Safe' is up to date and representative of the pandemic's evolution.

The online tool will provide an automated summary assessment of whether the traveller should proceed with their intended trip. This determination is delivered in the form of a 'traffic light' system of Red, Amber and Green. In the event that the traveller receives a Red assessment, risk factors warrant the individual reconsidering their need to travel. 'Green' indicates that the tool has not identified any major concerns with the intended trip, therefore booking can proceed. In the case of an 'Amber' result, a follow up consultation with Healix International's medical and/or logistical risk teams is recommended.  

LAYER 2: Personal Assessment

For those travellers who flag as 'Amber' there is the option to automatically integrate an escalation to the Healix International in-house medical and logistical risk teams for a personal assessment. The company's experts can review the report and provide customised advice on the associated risks. This advice then enables the traveller to make a more informed decision about the medical risks and the potential logistical complications. If required, Healix International can also work with employees to arrange pre-deployment COVID-19 tests and navigate unique logistical complexities. This layered approach provides the convenience of an easy-to-use online tool, seamlessly integrated with a more personalised expert service.

Further Customisation

The 'COVID Travel Safe' tool is highly customisable and able to sit on an organisation's own systems, conveniently integrating the risk assessment and trip approval workflow. Risk managers are given access to a separate login that allows them to track the requests and manage traveller support services where required. Healix International is also able to integrate travel policy rules, manager approvals, security information and ground support request forms to ensure that travellers can transition through the entire risk assessment and approval process in one efficient visit.

Employers can schedule a demo by contacting Healix International at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..