FEATURE
FIGHTING FIT
Allies – Shak has ensured that Tees Medical Services is working closely with champion boxer Savannah Marshall , pictured at Hartlepool College of Further Education .
Why medical firm is backing boxer Savannah and other young sporting talents
WORDS : DAVE ROBSON MAIN PICTURE : CHRIS BOOTH
They ’ re proud to be from Teesside and are in each other ’ s corners . And by sponsoring inspirational world champion boxer Savannah Marshall , Tees Medical Services owner Abdul Shakeel hopes their ongoing partnership will inspire young people to follow their dreams .
The tie-in with undisputed supermiddleweight world champion Savannah is an exciting development for a firm formed in 2016 , but whose roots were established three years earlier .
That ’ s when Mr Shakeel – known as Shak – used the legal knowledge he gained during his Northumbria University days to set up Drug and Alcohol Testing Services ( DATS ).
DATS works with employers across the UK and EU to provide industry-specific substance and alcohol misuse testing at client sites , or from its offices in central Middlesbrough .
After three years of DATS growth , Shak then formed Tees Medical Services ( TMS ) in 2016 – a multi-award-winning , specialist occupational health service that provides services to clients , nationally and internationally , and across various sectors .
Shak said : “ Before starting DATS in 2013 , I was unsure what the appetite in the North-East would be for drug and alcohol screening . But it soon became apparent that with my legal skills and background , I could not only provide a screening service , but also advise clients on a range of employment-led issues , particularly where possible misconduct was concerned .
“ I found I was able to provide a much more sophisticated level of service for our clients than ordinarily would be the case and TMS was conceived as a result of the work for DATS .”
Seven years on and both firms are flourishing . An eight-strong team works diligently at its Boho Zero HQ , organising the doctors , nurses , specialists and consultants it uses on an ad hoc basis , booking appointments and taking care of all the work that arises from the medicals .
TMS has more than 2,000 “ live ” clients , including big local names like PD Ports , has won numerous awards and attracts rave reviews on portals such as Google , Trustpilot and Facebook .
Shak says : “ In our view , flexibility is key to success – short notice requests are extremely important to us and matter to our clients
80 | Tees Business