Virgin Media picks BUPA for three year partnership

BUPA Health Insurance has been appointed to provide private healthcare to around 13,000 employees of entertainment and communications company Virgin Media for the next three years.

Virgin Media was launched earlier this year following the merger of ntl and Telewest. As part of this deal, the companies wanted to look at combining their separate healthcare schemes into a new single healthcare trust. That is where BUPA came in.

BUPA Health Insurance was selected following a rigorous tender process, which was managed by employee benefits consultancy Gissings on behalf of Virgin Media. BUPA’s team brought to the table its experience in setting up and managing health trusts, as well as its knowledge and understanding of Virgin Media’s health and financial requirements, ensuring that Virgin Media achieved long-term value and cost certainty.

The Virgin Media Employee Medical Scheme comprises fully bespoke and comprehensive medical cover giving employees access to BUPA’s unique networks of specialist treatment centres for breast, bowel and gynaecological cancers and the BUPA HealthLine – a 24/7 helpline staffed by nurses.

Additionally, BUPA Wellness already provides an employee assistance programme to staff at Virgin Media, which gives them 24-hour access to confidential counselling, advice and guidance on legal, financial and consumer issues.

Soraya Chamberlain, national account manager at BUPA Health Insurance, said: “We are delighted that Virgin Media has chosen us to administer its healthcare plan. We showed our considerable expertise in handling contracts of this size and demonstrated our commitment to bespoke customer service by pledging to set up a dedicated team to handle claims and queries from Virgin Media employees. It’s an exciting new partnership - one which we look forward to building on in the future.”

Rob Nutting, head of reward and policy at Virgin Media, added: “We chose BUPA as they proved their commitment and considerable experience. The healthcare plan meets our health and financial needs, and brings with it an effective claims handling service. We also felt BUPA’s high level of customer service would help us to build a positive and integrated approach to health and wellness for our employees.”

BUPA has also recently been appointed by Whitbread to provide cover for employees of Costa Coffee, Premier Travel Inn, Brewers Fayre and Beefeater.