Dr Narinder (Nick) Dhandsa is of Punjabi heritage. However, he was born in Singapore and has never lived in India. His family came to the UK in the sixties when he was six years old and he was educated initially at Gillingham Grammar School where his interests lay less in academia but more in other activities such as sport and especially the creative arts. He believed he was heading for art school until his father made it clear to him that he was misguided and medicine was the correct choice.
So, St Thomas’s Hospital Medical School beckoned although he kept up with art, sport and guitar playing.Post qualification Nick spent a brief period of time in the NHS as a junior hospital doctor. He believes the most influential role during this period was in paediatric medicine and specifically as SHO in a neonatal Intensive care unit. This was where he first directly experienced the potential conflict between regulation and practicality when cutting science was applied to the welfare of humanity.
Nick departed the NHS after a few years in order to establish a private medical business principally involving the development and operation of nursing centres throughout the Country. This became one of the largest health care groups in the UK with some fifty facilities and over four thousand employees. The Company, ANS plc, was listed on the main LSE but subsequently substantially sold to BUPA in a £350 million plus transaction. This also allowed Nick to more actively pursue his interests in the arts by establishing a Media business as well as returning to writing, drawing and painting.
This Media Company has been responsible for the creation of Rastamouse, the Apple Tree House franchises and the Broken Time theatre production, amongst other projects which include work in education. The Family office has also focused on other areas such as technology in the development of highly advanced teaching tools and the utilisation of AI in business development, marketing and entertainment.
