People often ask me, ‘Who are Feature Medical?’
It’s a question I never mind answering.
Feature Medical provide an extensive range of medical services for Film and TV Productions as well as Live Music Productions. No, not the cast you see on Casualty or in movies like The Good Nurse. Real-life medics who provide everyday medical care and standby cover for the actors, artists and crew on set, on stage and behind the scenes. Even a Medical Concierge Service for private GP consultations and enhanced pathways for VIPs, when needed.
We work with some of the biggest names in the industry, household favourites like Warner Bros, Paramount, Amazon, Apple and Netflix.
As a business, we employ the best of the best - leading clinicians and specialists who are truly passionate about what they do. Outstanding people who can deal with everything from minor illness and accidents to serious trauma and medical emergencies. We also offer on set travel health clinics, access to our own private GPs and a lab for quick turnaround (getting blood results back quickly is so important.) And for when flu threatens to strike, we run Flu Clinics.
OK, enough of the big sell. But indulge me, if you will, with our little back story...
We began rolling in 2016...
when I was asked by a friend of a friend to provide medical care cover on a movie. It combined my two great passions: medicine and cinema. The experience left an indelible mark on me. I decided this was something I wanted to do every day and went about setting up the company to provide everything medical a production may need.
Just a handful of us to start with, working clinically and behind the scenes. We must have done a half-decent job as we were invited back again and then again on different productions.
Each production would come with a whole heap of challenges. Last minute changes, time changes, production changes, even changes changing. But through it all, by being flexible and adaptable, we ensured the highest of standards were kept up and our clients never let down. Via word of mouth, our reputation grew.
Looking after everyone on the smallest indie flicks to the biggest of blockbusters.
We took over the Medical Centre at Warner Bros Studios, Leavesden. Expanding our services, multiplying our staff, but always maintaining tight control over what we provided. Only in our hands, would trust thrive.
People call me a ‘fussy ba*****’, but I’ve always wanted to make sure every detail is spot on. Whether that’s being‘hands-on’ myself or having sight of protocols before they go live, it’s got to be right every time.
We lived and breathed our values every day.
But in early 2020, along came a whirlwind.
A pandemic that changed the world.
And ours.
We began PCR testing. Everyone. Making sure all cast and crew with a suspected infection could be kept away from set by identifying them quickly. Keeping everything going when the going got tough.
We did over ¾ million tests across 114 different productions. 4 laboratories were built, expanding as soon they were commissioned, and 2 accreditations achieved from UKAS.
As self-testing became the new normal in 2022, we reverted back to our core offering. Medical Services. But we had built relationships with so many more people. People who remembered us, because they never forgot the level of service that they received.
Our name spread further. We had the wind in our sails and we brought more medical services in-house. We introduced a Medical Concierge Service for productions to use for their cast and crew.
We strengthened links to key facilities and developed pathways to impeccable care.
