After storm damage left an Australian operating theatre out of action a Gloucestershire business received a call to help save the day.

A supplier to the NHS for decades, Vanguard Healthcare Solutions has been working with Business West to develop overseas pipelines for some time - but the call from Australia was as unexpected as it was welcome.

Gloucester-based Vanguard describes itself as a market leader in mobile healthcare facilities, offering healthcare providers extra clinical capacity across a range of general and specialist services from cataracts procedures to endoscopy diagnosis.

The Melbourne hospital needed to perform open-heart surgery in one of Vanguard's mobile operating theatres - a first for a hospital in Australia, and as far as Vanguard are aware, a first anywhere - and the decision has already led to £80,000 of business.

David Cole, chief executive of Brockworth-based Vanguard Healthcare Solution, said the successful use of Vanguard's facility had led to a number of business meetings in Australia.

"We found the trip a massive success. We held 24 meetings in four cities over eight business days, meeting 47 people in total.

"We met operators of 14 health systems in various sectors and states - 12 of them immediately saw the relevance of our solutions and six of them said that they could have used such a solution in the previous two years.

"We already have a pipeline of eight opportunities, one of which is imminent, something we didn't come looking for and which is a massive upside.

"Since returning to the UK, we have presented our findings to the board and have support to develop a structured market entry plan, which is terrific."

Mr Cole said the help and support from Business West had been vital in making sure his business was on the front foot when the opportunities arose.

"We had specific help from Barbara Hollyhead, export manager to create a corporate presentation and value proposition of our products and services localised to the culture and language of the territories viewed for potential expansion.

"Barbara led a workshop activity to define the messaging for delivery during meetings and a formal conference presentation to be delivered during a territory visit.

"The workshop produced a full script for the presentations to clearly articulate what the business proposes and the benefits that can be realised by the customer.

"Barbara's marketing skill and wealth of international business experience were essential in building a tailormade set of materials. Consequently, due to the thorough preparation, meetings during the visits went exceptionally well."

Phil Smith, managing director at Business West, said: "It's great that Business West has been able to work with Vanguard over the last 18 months, helping them create their export strategy and to achieve overseas sales success.

"We've received excellent feedback about the expertise of the staff in our International Trade Centre who helped to provide everything from initial market screening, to the market research report through to the 'hands on' export manager service. I look forward to seeing Vanguard continue to grow their export sales."

Since joining the Export for Growth programme, funded by the European Regional Development Fund, five new jobs have been created within Vanguard's UK operation, demonstrating the broader impact that exporting has on the local economy.