It's Our Birthday!

November 2025 marks 10 years since Red Square Medical was first formed. So, we thought there was no better time to catch up with founder and Lead Medical Consultant, Liz Baugh, to find out more about how the company started, what's happened in that 10 years, and what the future looks like...

Red Square Medical - 10th Anniversary!

Here’s Liz’s recount of the Red Square Medical story:

After completing my career as a Royal Navy Medic, I moved into lecturing at Warsash Maritime Academy, where I was teaching STCW First Aid and Medical courses to seafarers. During that time, I was also invited to conduct onboard audits, emergency response training, and refresher sessions with ship crews.

What stood out to me was the uncertainty surrounding the provision of medical care at sea and the regulations that govern it. I realised I could take that pressure away by helping operators put simple, effective procedures in place; keeping them compliant while building crew confidence in their onboard responses.

Demand for this kind of service grew quickly, and before long it was clear that it needed to be more than a side project — it was the start of a business.

In the first few years, there wasn’t really a structured plan. At one boat show, I noticed several companies delivering STCW training but offering nothing in the way of First Aid or medical courses. I approached them with a partnership idea where I would design and deliver the courses, secure Flag State approval for their training centre, and run the programs myself, with training delivered only by healthcare professionals with offshore experience.

The need for this partnership approach to STCW medical training was definitely there and the idea took off quickly. I was travelling constantly, delivering refresher medical care courses — often attended by senior Masters. They started to ask what other services Red Square Medical could provide, and that’s when I realised that a proper business plan was essential.

As a clinician rather than a businesswoman, I knew that I needed guidance. So, I signed up for a course and was paired with a mentor who helped me to clarify my vision and map out a 12-month program. With her support, I achieved it in just eight months. Her words of wisdom still guide me today, and I credit her with helping Red Square Medical grow into a company capable of working with the clients we wanted.

The best advice I ever received is ‘don't bring me problems, bring me solutions’ and my top tip for people starting out in business is to get yourself on a mentorship program. I am a big fan of the phrase ‘Consciously Incompetent’. Basically I know that there is a lot I don't know. So be curious about everything, never stop learning, and always take the feedback you get, whether positive or negative, and use it to be better rather than get hurt or offended by it. I am quite comfortable knowing what I am good at so would rather hear about what I need to work on.

Of course, it wasn’t all sunshine and cocktails - don’t we all wish it was? I underestimated the workload, put in some punishingly long hours, undersold my services, and wrestled with imposter syndrome. But the highlights outweighed the challenges and I met some incredible people who offered direction, kept me grounded, and helped me focus on what really mattered.

COVID did slow things down a little, but STCW training for Merchant Navy cadets was still permitted as it was education, so that kept things going. I also produced a series of free short videos on basic first aid and shared them. A huge positive from that time was securing the contract with Scenic Luxury Cruises, so that was a great development in challenging times.

From its start as a provider of STCW medical training, Red Square Medical has grown into a fully fledged maritime medical solutions provider. Our services have been developed based on the team's experience at sea, research and industry demands. I am so proud of the business, how it’s grown and what it is becoming, and I still feel that there is much that we can do. 

We now have 3 core areas of the maritime industry that we provide services to: 

• FleetMed Support - this is our end to end medical support service that ships can access. Due to the team's specialism and experience, we excel in the remote and expedition sector. 

• STCW training - we have a team of instructors from all sectors of the industry delivering courses for several training centres in the UK and occasionally within Europe. 

• Plus our other Educational Services which includes bespoke training onboard, online training, and the many, many free resources that we are constantly refreshing.  We strongly believe in sharing best practice with our supporters so that they know they can always access relevant, accurate and clinically up to date information. 

I am an avid planner by nature, so there is always a Plan A, B and C for everything! This means that there is always contingency if things don't pan out exactly as I had planned - let’s face it, things in the maritime sector do have a habit of changing. Planning like this helps me to stay on task and remain positive.

Opportunities that come along are generally from word of mouth because someone has worked with us and had a great result and then recommended us. I really value those recommendations and I know that it is not just our reputation but that of the person recommending us that is on the line, so we work extra hard to make sure we earn those recommendations. 

The best way to deliver consistently high-quality services is to bring in the right expert for each task. That’s why we’ve built a trusted core team of consultants who support our clients in their areas of specialism — because no one can know everything about everything. We also partner with companies that share our values, working alongside them to deliver services to their clients while drawing on their expertise to strengthen the support we provide to ours.

Sometimes though, we just aren't the right fit for a company. If that’s the case we will always tell them and provide a recommendation of who we think would be a good fit. 

In my experience, collaboration is key. There are some excellent medical services providers in the Maritime sector and we are proud to take a collaborative approach with those who are technically our ‘competitors’. Our philosophy is that there is enough business to go round and sharing best practice is only going to benefit responders and patients. 

My North star has always been the desire to build strong relationships through transparency, trust, and deliver simple yet effective solutions — with patient outcomes always at the forefront. I’m extremely proud of the relationships we build, but to provide that kind of service, you need the right team. Finding people who share those values isn’t easy, which is why Red Square Medical has grown steadily rather than rapidly. 

I struck gold when Caroline Blatter of the Superyacht Services Guide introduced me to Rachel Smith. Rachel has been instrumental in steering the business in the right direction, combining her expertise in marketing, clinical medicine, and seafaring to build the reputation and brand to the point you now know. Rachel and I have worked together for five years, and I couldn’t do this without her.

Liz Baugh and Rachel Smith

We’re both busy, brimming with enthusiasm, and constantly sharing new ideas and challenges. Recently, we recognised it was the time to bring someone else into the fold — and after a careful search, we’ve found the right person to join us later this year. Watch this space for more exciting news about the new addition to the team!

In terms of challenges, there isn’t much that keeps me awake at night because I have spent years trying to build good routines to ensure that my physical and mental health are well balanced. Being stressed or anxious about things doesn't help. However, I would be lying if I didn't say that I occasionally have a sleepless night. Normally it is because I am worried about whether I made the right decision for a patient; or more often these days whether or not my 18 year old daughter came home before curfew!! I do get frustrated by a failure to embrace smarter working practices, but I am lucky enough to have a techy husband, so I am always asking him to help me find the best possible solutions to use technology to help me and Red Square Medical work smarter.

Moving forward into the future, I do see us growing a little larger than we are now — but not so much that we lose sight of our original vision. Scale should never come at the cost of personal connection or genuine interest in our clients. That said, please do get in touch if you need some help with medical operations of a small fleet (single vessels included!) working in the remote and expedition sector, or would like to discuss onboard refresher training. 

Finally, I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has been part of the Red Square Medical journey and success in some capacity over the last 10 years.

Here’s to the next 10 years!