Life Couriers Steps in to Protect Patient Deliveries

The sudden liquidation of NRS Healthcare in August 2025 created a high-risk service gap across healthcare logistics in the UK. Of the 40+ contracts operated by NRS Healthcare, Essity’s fulfilment and delivery on behalf of Buckinghamshire Council was one of the larger contracts. Without rapid intervention, over 1000 patients faced delays or loss of access to essential healthcare products and equipment.

Owing to our long and successful logistics partnership with Essity, Life Couriers was approached to address the shortfall of support left behind in the wake of NRS’ collapse. Within 48 hours of the news of NRS going into liquidation, the team at Life Couriers’ depot in Nottingham, UK, had mobilized to cover this critical gap in service coverage, dedicating 5 vans from the company’s fleet to fulfil these deliveries and ensure that patients didn’t miss a single delivery.

Rising to the challenge with speed and precision

On 1^st August 2025, it was announced that NRS Healthcare would be liquidated, affecting 1500 staff members and countless patients who depended on NRS for medical devices and healthcare essentials.

As a large provider of UK-based healthcare logistics, NRS routinely delivered mobility aids, daily living products and complex assistive technologies for 41 integrated care boards (ICBs) and local authorities. This sudden change in logistics provider left a startling gap in support for communities and local services. With the urgent need to take over fulfilment and last mile delivery for a high volume of vulnerable patients, Essity approached Life Couriers to step in and ensure that no patient was left without their deliveries.

By acting as the coordination hub, the Nottingham depot was able to closely monitor the transfer of a high volume of Essity stock to its warehouse and by leveraging route-planning software and logistics expertise, the team were able to execute these new delivery routes with the same operational excellence that has become synonymous with Life Couriers.

Safeguarding patients with logistics expertise

One of the most vital aspects of transferring this contract at short notice was ensuring the safe handling of patient data: with over 1000 patients being added to our database, our teams had to treat this sensitive data with the utmost care and discretion.

By leveraging the company’s decades of logistics experience with well-established compliance protocols, patient data was safely and securely passed on to Life Couriers, ensuring that these vulnerable patients still received their healthcare essentials.

Working alongside Essity and Buckinghamshire Council, we were able to communicate with these patients to provide assurance of the safeguarding of their deliveries and avoid widespread interruption to these services.

A strong logistics partnership with Essity

One of the world’s leading healthcare companies, Essity specializes in consumer hygiene products, and its most recognizable brands like Tena, Leukoplast, and Bodyform can be found in homes and clinical settings around the world.

In our UK operations, Essity has been a long-time partner for over 10 years, with Life Couriers providing logistics support for some of Essity’s core product line directly to the patients who need them.

This strategic partnership regularly sees our UK team completing over 25,000 monthly deliveries of Essity products directly to care homes, assisted living facilities or directly into patient’s homes.

Our commitment to patients

The collapse of NRS Healthcare could have left thousands of patients without critical supplies. Instead, Life Couriers demonstrated how preparedness, agility, and patient-focused values can transform a potential crisis into a showcase of operational excellence.

By mobilising within 48 hours, the company not only safeguarded patient wellbeing but also reinforced its reputation as a trusted partner in healthcare logistics, one that patients and customers can rely on when it matters most.

Reflecting on the company’s response, Sam Elliot, Logistics Manager of our Nottingham, UK depot, noted: “As always, our top priority is the patient’s we serve. We’re grateful to Essity for trusting us to pick up this contract at such short-notice, but above all we felt a responsibility to make sure that the Buckinghamshire patients didn’t go without these essential deliveries.”

Since taking over this contract in August 2025, Life Couriers continues to deliver to 1000 patients per week in the Buckinghamshire area, with the same level of service and dependability as when the company first took on these deliveries. This proves once again that Life Couriers’ core values and its unshakeable commitment to improving the lives of patients one delivery at a time can be counted on to deliver with care.