Bender UK’s Sam Parry brings something new to the table with Merivaara’s operating room equipment

Healthcare professionals set high standards for themselves, but also for the patient care products they use in their work. Merivaara provides high-quality hospital equipment, healthcare technology, and surgical solutions to the UK market. With some help from Sam Parry at Bender UK, Merivaara’s products have found new users in places such as Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals.

Sam Parry might not be able to perform surgery on Merivaara’s operating tables, but he certainly knows how beneficial they can be to hospital staff.

Sam is currently working as the National Clinical Sales Manager at Bender UK, Merivaara’s distribution partner in the United Kingdom since 2017. Sam’s knowledge of Merivaara healthcare solutions runs much deeper than this, since he has also worked for the company directly.

“I’ve been working with Merivaara in some role for 13 years now. I have always been stationed in the UK, but during my employment at Merivaara, I made frequent visits to Finland, particularly to Lahti. Merivaara products are a great fit for any hospital design, and I’ve seen firsthand how the company has truly focused on creating products that are created with the end-user in mind,” Sam says.

Bringing Merivaara products to the UK market

Knowing Merivaara’s design philosophy for medical furniture and equipment has helped Sam and his team at Bender UK to focus on providing their clients with the most suitable solution. In addition to operating tables, Bender UK also offers Merivaara’s full product portfolio, such as its award-winning Q-Flow family for surgical lighting and OR integration system.

Currently, significant growth for Merivaara in the UK market comes from operating tables, such as the Smarter Pratico and Grand Promerix. Both tables have lately been adopted for use at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals.

“Many of the hospitals’ operation tables were outdated and could no longer be efficiently maintained. We took an active role in offering the most suitable Merivaara solutions, with the staff’s requirements as our top priority,” Sam explains.

Keeping focus on client needs

The staff at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals liked many of the features of the older tables and wanted to have UK Rails in them as a standard, so that the hospital would not have to replace all existing side supports. Sam and his team sent two Smarter Practico operating tables to the hospitals for a trial period and closely listened to the feedback.

“In general, the client was very pleased with Smarter Practico’s ease of use. When one of the professors found Practico’s movement options lacking for his line of work, we were able to offer Grand Promerix as an alternative to meet those more demanding needs.”

Not all ideas for improvements and additions spring to mind during the trial period. For this reason, Bender UK ensures that the client is not forgotten after the sale is final. One of Parry’s colleagues makes weekly complimentary visits to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals.

“We provide training and maintenance for Merivaara’s products. In-person visits are essential, as I firmly believe that a personal touch is the key to a great client relationship,“ Sam notes.

Future market potential

Merivaara products have been available in the UK for 25 years. At this point, Bender’s sales and support teams are well-acquainted with Merivaara’s solutions, and the companies maintain regular contact. Not long ago, some of Bender's staff travelled to Finland for further training.

Merivaara’s Surgery Business Unit Director Juha Taimisto used to work with Parry when he was employed at Merivaara. He is pleased with the ongoing partnership with Bender UK and Parry’s active role in it.

“Sam and his team at Bender UK do an excellent job of determining client needs and offering the right products from our selection. They are also very active in forwarding client feedback to us, which helps us to improve our products.”

Merivaara’s efforts to expand its market share continue with support from Bender UK.

“Bender has actively invested in their sales team to ensure that they also have some clinical understanding of the products. From my perspective, shared work history with Sam is also a benefit. In this digital age, personal connections are important. It’s wonderful that with Sam, we can discuss both business and how our local sports teams, Lahti Pelicans and Leicester City Football Club, are doing,” Taimisto concludes.

Would you like to know more about how Merivaara products are modernising surgical operations? Read the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals case study.