Big Issue Invest cash helps to clear hospital bed backlog

A Big Issue-backed care provider is helping to clear hospital backlogs by boosting the number of beds available for people aged over 65.

Social enterprise Spiral Health has provided 10 extra beds to allow older patients in north-west England to be taken off wards and looked after in care homes, following a £150,000 investment from Big Issue Invest, our social investment arm.

With the cash from Big Issue Invest’s Impact Loans England programme, a £5 million lending scheme aimed at enabling social enterprises to access loan funding of between £20,000 and £150,000, Spiral Health has entered a long-term commitment to operate a new home, Springfield Manor Gardens Care Home in Preston.

The funding has helped to provide accommodation for an additional 10 people, increasing the number of nursing care beds to 43, with potential to rise to 60 in the future – easing pressure on Lancashire Teaching Hospital Trust.

Maayan Keren-Zur, investment manager at Big Issue Invest, said: “We are so pleased that we have been able to provide support to Spiral Health in order for them to continue to keep doing the incredible work they do.”

NEW funding programme IMPACT LOANS ENGLAND is OPEN! £20K – £150K to #socents and #charities in England! #ADealAWeekhttps://t.co/VUuYWFrypnpic.twitter.com/tS0jEFrEtX

— Big Issue Invest (@BigIssueInvest) January 24, 2017

Tracey Bush, CEO of Spiral Health, said: “We are very pleased to be working with Big Issue Invest and the health and social care sector in order to make a real difference in supporting older people in the North West.

“We operate in one of the most deprived areas in England: 16 per cent of the neighbourhoods in Preston are in the 10 per cent most deprived in the country. Over half of our residents are living with a dementia. Without the funding from Big Issue Invest, we wouldn’t have been able to provide vital services and support to some of the most vulnerable people in our community.”