MEDICAL device and specialist shoemaker Peacock's Medical Group has renewed a major NHS contract as it expands its team and pushes for growth.
The family-owned firm, which for almost a century has been producing equipment such as leg braces and bespoke shoes for people such as diabetics who have lost the sensation in their feet, has renewed its contract with Airedale Hospital in Yorkshire.
Managing director Chris Peacock, who is the fourth generation of the family to head the Newcastle firm, said: “It is worth £300,000 a year for the next five years and if we do everything right, it will be for seven years.
“Most orthotic tenders are for five to seven years and being able to win or retain contracts gives long-term job security.
“We provide an orthotic consultant and we provide them with bespoke products. They are our fifth biggest customer.” The business, which has its design and manufacturing base at Benfield Business Park in Newcastle, counts long-standing customers Newcastle Hospitals – the Freeman and the RVI – and Southampton University Hospitals as its biggest clients.
Peacock said that the current cuts in public sector spending and changes to the NHS are having a mixed effect on demand for the company’s products.
He said: “It depends on the way that hospitals are funding or getting their orthotic spending.
“Some are trying to reduce it, while others are more entrepreneurial and are trying to bring in more people from the wider community to use the service.”