Activism

Big Issue Invest cash helps to clear hospital bed backlog

Spiral Heath has provided 10 extra beds at Springfield Manor Gardens Care Home in Preston to allow older patients to be treated off wards and in care homes

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.

Springfield-Manor-Gardens-Care-Home
Spiral Health have agreed a long-term lease to run Springfield Manor Gardens Care Home

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.”

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.”

Watch the Pride special collection.

Our LGBTQ+ film playlist offers a new and interesting angle on LGBTQ+ love and struggle – giving an international overview by taking us inside some of the most and least sexually liberated countries in the world.  

Sign Up Now

Support the Big Issue

For over 30 years, the Big Issue has been committed to ending poverty in the UK. In 2024, our work is needed more than ever. Find out how you can support the Big Issue today.
Vendor martin Hawes

Recommended for you

View all
This man let 12 strangers give £100,000 of his money away. Governments should follow suit
Philanthropy

This man let 12 strangers give £100,000 of his money away. Governments should follow suit

Housing estate plagued by mould, damp and dire conditions. Now, residents are fighting back
tower hamlets
Housing

Housing estate plagued by mould, damp and dire conditions. Now, residents are fighting back

'He's like a caged animal in the flat': Meet the parents fighting for an adult social care revolution
Parents and children take part in a sensory parachute exercise at Linden Farm
Social care

'He's like a caged animal in the flat': Meet the parents fighting for an adult social care revolution

Big Issue founder John Bird celebrates vendors at House of Lords – and vows to help end destitution
National Vendor Week

Big Issue founder John Bird celebrates vendors at House of Lords – and vows to help end destitution

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Here's when UK households to start receiving last cost of living payments
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Here's when UK households to start receiving last cost of living payments

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know