Hope For The Community CIC Awarded Prestigious Innovate UK Funding to Scale Innovative Support for People on Elective Care Waitlists
Hope For The Community CIC has been boosted by funding from the Social Ventures competition, run by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) as part of the Healthy Ageing Challenge, delivered by Innovate UK.
UKRI's Healthy Ageing Challenge Scaling Social Ventures funding is designed to support innovative social enterprises in scaling products and services to support healthy ageing and deliver social impact.
Just over £314k was awarded to Hope For The Community CIC (H4C), a Coventry based innovative social enterprise empowering people to manage their health and wellbeing, to fund co-production and evaluation of personalised HoPES (Hope and Prepare Effectively for Surgery) self-management support for people on hip and knee replacement waitlists.
Lengthening waiting lists are particularly an issue in the area of musculoskeletal health, with some people waiting over 2 years for surgery, experiencing worsening pain, reduced mobility, increased anxiety, isolation and deteriorating health.
Working in partnership with NHS South West, Coventry University, Cardiff University, Coventry University Online, Magic Square Systems Ltd and Make An Impact CIC, HoPES aims to keep people socially connected, in better mental health, and physically active as they wait for knee and hip surgery.
"We are thrilled that this funding competition focussed specifically on social enterprises and that we were successful in securing the contract for HoPES," said Gabriela Matouskova, CEO of H4C. "It will allow us to take H4C to the next level and have an even wider impact by giving people more control to prepare and wait well."
UKRI Healthy Ageing Challenge Director, George MacGinnis, said:
“H4C is offering much needed support to people who find themselves enduring long waits for hip and knee surgery. Their services help people prepare for their operation by remaining active and socially connected and this plays a key part in improving outcomes for the NHS. They are an exciting example of a social enterprise aiming to make a real difference to people’s lives. We are delighted to be able to support them to take their service to scale and reach many more communities across the country.”
Paul Spencer, Senior Programme Manager for Personalised Care, NHS England – South West said:
“This project builds on our successful partnership with H4C providing digital, virtual and face-to-face supported self-management with positive results for people in the South West. We are excited to be involved and to support people to prepare for elective surgery in a way that works best for them. In the long term, this project will demonstrate that providing holistic support while waiting for surgery can make a positive difference in individual outcomes and change the way people access health and care services in their community”.
The project runs over 12 months with a product launch scheduled for the end of the year.
About UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
UKRI creates knowledge with impact by investing over £8bn a year in research and innovation through the UK’s nine leading funding councils.
News announcement of all 12 winning projects: https://www.ukri.org/news/sixteen-healthy-ageing-projects-win-funding-to-scale-innovations/