PureHealth expands into UK diagnostics via Circle Health

By Jed Nykolle Harme

September 15, 2026

Photo Credits: PureHealth

PureHealth and Unilabs Limited have announced that PureHealth's subsidiary Circle Health Group will take over selected UK laboratory operations from Unilabs. It matters because it gives Circle direct control over diagnostics turnaround times across its hospital network, rather than relying on an external lab provider whose capacity and quality standards it could not directly manage.

PureHealth is the largest healthcare group in the Middle East, headquartered in Abu Dhabi and listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, operating internationally through subsidiaries including UK hospital operator Circle Health Group and UAE laboratory operator PureLab.

Unilabs Limited is a European clinical diagnostics provider whose UK laboratory operations included two dedicated hub laboratories in Euston and Cavendish Square, London, alongside a wider network of fully licensed laboratories across the country.

The transferred network provides pathology, histopathology, blood sciences, microbiology and specialist diagnostic services, already serving more than 90 external healthcare clients, and will continue serving that existing client base under Circle's ownership.

Circle Health Group operates more than 50 hospitals across the UK, giving the laboratory network an existing base of clinical activity from the start, with additional eligible volumes expected to transition to the platform over time.

Circle Health said the deal will strengthen collaboration between clinicians and laboratory specialists while improving operational responsiveness, capacity and turnaround times, positioning the acquisition around service quality rather than cost reduction alone.

The UK platform draws directly on PureLab, PureHealth's UAE laboratory business, which manages more than 150 laboratories and processes over 25 million tests a year using automation and AI-enabled diagnostics that will now support the UK operation.

PureHealth group chief executive Shaista Asif said: "By combining Circle Health Group's leading UK hospital network with PureHealth's global diagnostics expertise, we are building a more connected model of care that will benefit patients and healthcare partners across the UK."

For the sector, applying an established Gulf laboratory operating model directly to a UK hospital network signals that international healthcare groups increasingly see diagnostics infrastructure, not just hospital beds, as the operational layer worth consolidating across borders.

Source: Gulf News / Abu Dhabi Media Office / Health & Protection