Medicash, the UK’s oldest health cash plan provider, has appointed two new non-executive directors to its Board.

As it celebrates its 150th anniversary, Medicash has appointed Jonathan Brown and Jean Ellis to its board. On 8 January 2021, Medicash marked the 150th anniversary of its first Hospital Sunday collection to support the voluntary hospitals of Liverpool. A fact that contributed to Medicash being awarded the Freedom of the City of Liverpool in 2018 for its longstanding contribution to healthcare and commitment to charitable giving.

Jean Ellis joins from DSG Chartered Accountants, one of the leading independent accountancy and advisory firms in the North West. With 30 years’ experience Ellis is currently a corporate and audit partner at DSG, specialising in not-for-profit and third sector audit clients. She is also trustee for two local charities, a member of the Finance Committee at Liverpool Chamber of Commerce and a board member at Liverpool Hope University.

Ellis said: “My time working as a chartered accountant, group tax manager and financial director has given me a valuable insight into the commercial world. I believe this experience, plus my experience working as an insolvency practitioner enables me to really develop my clients. I’m really looking forward to helping Medicash drive forward its ambitions in the next chapter of its history.”

Meanwhile, Jonathan Brown joins with over 30 years of experience as a corporate lawyer. Operating out of Hill Dickinson’s Liverpool office, he specialises in all forms of the mergers and acquisitions market, including IPOs, development capital and joint ventures. He has acted for a wide variety of clients and has excellent experience in a wide variety of industry sectors.

Brown currently sits on the boards of Derwent Lodge Estates, Stobart Group and Stobart Air, whilst also being the Chair of Hill Dickinson LLP and Praetura Group, a financial services investment and lending business. During his career Brown has helped transact the sale of Swinton Insurance N.I. to Abbey Insurance Ltd and acted for Stobart Group in the acquisitions of many businesses including James Irlam & Sons Ltd and London Southend Airport Company Ltd.

Brown said: “I am very pleased to be appointed a non-executive director of Medicash which has an excellent reputation for customer service. Medicash was founded in the 19th Century but is very much a 21st Century organisation. I very much look forward to working with Board colleagues to continue achieving success for all the stakeholders of Medicash.”

Sue Weir, chief executive of Medicash said: “We are delighted to welcome Jean and Jonathan to our Board to help lead the next stage of our development. They have extensive commercial experience, and I am sure they will bring new ideas which will benefit both our customers and the wider team. They are a great addition to the Medicash Board.”

Commenting on 2020, Weir said: “Despite the difficult trading conditions, I’m proud that as a financially strong organisation we took the decision not to furlough any employees, but rather to focus on improving our service still further by implementing new customer centric projects. We also launched several new services, including being the first UK health insurer to introduce a skin cancer screening app that allows users to assess their skin spots and moles for the most common causes of skin cancer.

“Through the Medicash Foundation we donated over £500,000 in 2020, including over £100,000 of vital PPE for the NHS, North West Ambulance Service and local care homes. A large amount of this funding was to help charities suffering from lost income due to the lockdown and those launching specialist initiatives to help their communities during the pandemic.”