Michael Pettifer, Managing Director of MPI Brokers, says: “Mayday offers a unique combination of skills and services that is well matched to the full range of activities and destinations chosen by our customers.
“I am confident that any medical condition arising while a customer is outside the UK will be managed with the utmost professionalism – and if repatriation is necessary from anywhere in the world any discomfort for the patient will be minimised.”
Mayday counts pre-existing medical conditions among its special skills. Michael Pettifer says this dovetails with MPI Brokers’ recently introduced policy MPI Don’t Stop Me NowTM, which overcomes the difficulties people with medical conditions often have with regular travel insurance. Recently, MPI Brokers also raised the starting point for age-loading on all its policies from 65 to 70 and now has an upper age limit of 90.
Michael Pettifer says: “We provide insurance that enables people to travel widely without worrying about the consequences of unexpected illness or injury. With Mayday ready to step in when an emergency arises, peace of mind for customers rises to a new high.”
Mayday Assistance Managing Director Richard Warburton says there are close parallels between Mayday and MPI Brokers. “We are both proudly independent, essentially family owned and managed by major shareholders – and we are dedicated to delivering the best service to our end-users,” he says.
Significantly, Mayday has a number of skiers on its staff and Richard Warburton is a former ski medic – who has also seen active service as an army medic and worked with the United Nations, repatriating refugees.
Now in its sixth year, Mayday provides medical assistance, repatriation and related services to a growing client base. Its 24/7 UK call centre is staffed entirely with graduate case managers, all of whom are fluent in at least three European languages.
Richard Warburton says: “We don’t use scripts or take messages: we employ people who are smart enough to ask the questions necessary to understand the problem – and then manage its solution. Everyone on our team is a decision-
maker. Ideally, if you talk to one of our people today, you’ll be able to talk to the same person tomorrow.
“Our highly experienced in-house, nurse-led medical team, supported by a consultant medical director, closely monitors all cases and handles repatriations. We have our own portable oxygen concentrator, which gives us the flexibility to use whichever airline is the most efficient for repatriating a patient.
“We have a pool of suppliers of air and road ambulance services – and because of the difficulty of accommodating stretcher-cases on many airlines, we are increasingly using road ambulances for repatriations from mainland Europe. In fact, the road ambulances are more comfortable for patients and travelling times are much the same.”