New CEO launches Gainsborough Healthcare Group

Under the leadership of new CEO Peter Eckhardt, we are now a specialist brand that is part of a stronger organisation – the Gainsborough Healthcare Group.

The Gainsborough Healthcare Group is now the parent organisation that operates Gainsborough Specialist Bathrooms, Abacus Specialist Bathroom Solutions and Access walk-in-baths. This represents a significant development in the healthcare sector as each proven brand is now able to leverage and synergise resources so greater value is delivered to bathers, carers and healthcare providers. With a holistic service programme and the ability to manage the whole supply chain, the Gainsborough Healthcare Group has a specialism strength that is unique in the marketplace.

Since 1988 we have been at the forefront of accessible bath innovation. Originally established by the award-winning Farmiloe brothers, our respected business has recorded significant achievements during three decades of development. Continually focused on enhancing care for vulnerable bathers, we have raised standards across long term and acute, paediatrics and mature care. We design and produce assistive products with exceptional quality, aesthetics and reliability. The Abacus manufacturing facility in Walsall and headquarters in Redditch continue to drive excellence in variable height and powered solutions for bathers with restricted mobility.

Through our family-run heritage we have always taken pride in our customer-centric approach – an assessment-led service delivered with empathy and understanding. This connection with bathers manifests itself in features that provides utmost safety and comfort so a reassuring bathing experience is available to all. This ethos for Abacus service and product eminence will now be elevated by inception of the Gainsborough Healthcare Group led by Peter Eckhardt.

Peter Eckhardt brings to the Group over 30 years of top level business acumen. As a senior thought-leader from internationally acclaimed businesses such as Bang & Olufsen, Peter is pioneering a new approach to assisted bathing. His equivocal Scandinavian focus on quality and design will now accelerate innovation – hence safeguarding future care. By synergising Peter’s visionary charisma with the established expertise of the original owners, the Gainsborough Healthcare Group has the potential for significant growth and expansion.

Peter comments:

“Our promise is to enhance lives through bathing. Each of our proven brands will do this through a collective thrust enabled by a new group mentality. Now spanning all demographics, we can continue to strive for bathing perfection through wider specialisms. Since 1988 we have and will continue to start with the bather; we always have safety, comfort and duty of care in focus for anything we do. Our point of departure is always the bather. We engage with the customers, bathers and carers to identify and realise solutions that deliver tangible differences to peoples’ lives. We operate in a user’s paradigm with compassion and belief – and it is my personal vision to amplify our quietly spoken confidence.”