Our Stories

Anyone who is unsure what innovation and social enterprise can bring to the NHS to improve the lives of patients and staff and cut costs, should spend ten minutes in the company of the extraordinary Bernadette Porter.

Eleanor Cappell is the first Social Entrepreneur in Residence to be appointed in the NHS.

Lots of people come up with great ideas that they think will change the world but most people don’t have the expertise to get them off the ground. Andrew Brough makes ideas into reality. As head of fund development for Launchpad, he works with people to provide the commercial and entrepreneurial advice they need to create social impact. Zenobia Talati talks to him.

It is an uncomfortable fact that inequality and racism pervade the UK health system. Whether this is down to institutional history, the behaviour of individuals or unwillingness to change is debateable. But, the consequences continue to be felt by the millions of people across the country who are being failed by the system. Elizabeth Bayliss, CEO of Social Action for Health (SAfH), a community development charity based in East London, tackles this injustice face-on and her approach is always to start and end with the people. She talks to Zenobia Talati.

Grown-up children want the best for their parents as they go through the aging process. But in reality many people feel squeezed for time and don’t know where to find the right advice or who to ask. Jessica Shortall is working with Health Launchpad on a ground breaking website providing ‘adult children’ with practical support to help them care for their parents. She talks to Zenobia Talati.

Start Again is a social enterprise that helps young people with mental ill health to re-engage with life and set their own goals. At its heart is a simple idea: begin with the individual’s passion. For many that passion is sport. And sport is what Mark Peters knows well. Mark, in his early thirties, is a former professional footballer, now employed part-time as a community youth worker. He is also the charismatic driving force behind Start Again.

A growing number of designers are applying their talents to creating social change. But when many people think of design they imagine objects like chairs or houses. Design as user-engagement, approach and process can be more difficult to grasp. Mary Rose Cook co-founded design consultancy Uscreates with fellow designer Zoë Stanton. They set up the organisation because they recognised that designers could play a significant role in tackling social problems. Zenobia Talati talks to her.

At times, being an entrepreneur can be a confusing and lonely profession. But there are organisations that exist to help foster entrepreneurial people, providing much-needed training and support. Founded ten years ago by Michael Young, the School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) is an action-based ‘school’ with an ethos of learning by doing. It aims to be as inclusive as possible so that people with great ideas, from any background, receive the help they need. Nick Temple is Policy and Communications Director at the SSE. Zenobia Talati talks to him.

Behind a listed and rather grand Victorian gents’ urinal in Balsall Heath, Birmingham, lies Saheli, a gym, also known as an ‘adventure hub’ that has the potential to help transform the lives of Asian and ethnic women in the West Midlands.