Our Acknowledged Expertise
Sport and Exercise Medicine is at the heart of our work and our reputation with sport’s governing bodies, clubs, players, athletes, team doctors and specialists reflects our understanding and acknowledged expertise in this area.
Meet the team
Richard Blain
Richard founded Health Partners in 1993 taking the central role in the design, development and implementation of ‘The Premier League Medical Care Scheme’.
The Scheme, which we continue to manage to this day, facilitates the provision of healthcare to 96% of all professional footballers in England and Wales, including Premier League & English Football League Clubs, and the national squads.
Richard immediately instilled his own principles of integrity, client service and professionalism throughout Health Partners developing a strong culture of staff loyalty, cooperation, innovation and skills development within the business.
Richard Bown
With over 30 years’ experience in the financial services and healthcare industry, Richard has focused on working with many high-profile clients that have included members of the Royal Family; Members of Parliament and within the film, television and music industries. Complimenting his role as Operations Director; Richard is the Account Director for the F.A. Premier League Medical Care Scheme Trust, managing it for over twenty years and has developed the Scheme from its earliest beginnings to the largest and most successful healthcare Trust of its type, anywhere in the world.
Away from work, Richard enjoys spending time with his family and is also Chairman of a community football club for children and young people with autism.
Frances Phillips
Frances joined Health Partners in 2006 and is the Account Manager for the ECB Healthcare Trust (England & Wales Cricket Board) the TASS Medical Care Scheme (Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme) and RFU Women’s Premier 15’s.
Having been a successful business manager with one of the largest private medical insurers in the UK prior to joining Health Partners, Frances has over 25 years of experience in process enhancement and product management across the healthcare sector and is the lead on IT and online client services within the business.
Caroline Westrep
A graduate from the University of London, Caroline joined Health Partners in 1995 following 11 years with Standard Life. Armed with a wealth of detailed experience in all aspects of private healthcare and medical trusts, Caroline has led the F.A. Premier League Medical Care Scheme as Account Manager since 2000.
With responsibility for over 10,000 individual treatment episodes per year, Caroline is acknowledged by the Premier League, clubs and medics alike as a key contributor to the success of the F.A. Premier League Medical Care Scheme.
James Brown
James Brown FFSEM(UK) is a senior Sport and Exercise Medicine Physician and Fellow of the Faculty of Sports & Exercise Medicine, with over 25 years’ experience supporting elite athletes and performance teams. He currently serves as Lead Performance Doctor for UK Athletics, and previously spent 10 years as Team Doctor for British Triathlon, based at the Brownlee Centre in Leeds.
James is the founder of UKADIS (UK Association of Doctors in Sport), established in 2001 to foster collaboration and knowledge-sharing across the UK sports medicine community. His previous roles include team physician posts with England Rugby U21s, Yorkshire County Cricket, Huddersfield Giants, Wakefield Trinity, and Northern Ballet.
Since 2011, James has led the design and implementation of Athlete Management Systems (AMS) and injury surveillance platforms, supporting both Olympic athletes and elite sports teams. His current work focuses on integrating AI, wearable tech, and performance analytics with clinical expertise—bridging the gap between medical and performance silos to deliver data-informed, collaborative care.
James champions a future of sports medicine that is not only tech-enabled but built on trust, experience, and human connection.