The brain injury charity Brainkind has bought three neurological care centres from the palliative care charity Sue Ryder, with the transfer of almost 400 staff and volunteers.
Brainkind said today it had acquired the service centres – in Preston, Lancashire; Stagenhoe, Hertfordshire; and Ipswich, Suffolk – as part of a bid to grow the amount of people it could support.
The charity declined to say how much was spent on the acquisitions, saying the amount was “commercially sensitive”.
The Preston site was completed in 2020 at a cost of £8.5m, according to the firm of architects that worked on the project.
The 382 permanent staff, volunteers and bank workers employed across the three services have transferred to Brainkind and all service users at the centres will continue to be supported, the charity said.
Richard Jane, director of external affairs at Brainkind, told Third Sector the aim of the acquisition was to help the charity meet the objectives of its recent seven-year strategy, after it rebranded earlier this year to specialise solely in acquired brain injuries.
He said the move would grow the charity’s brain injury services by increasing the amount of beds it had available for those it supports and would help improve the sustainability of its services.
“We’re bringing all of those staff over, but we are also looking at how we better invest in those services and the infrastructure,” said Jane. “So we’re already investing in the infrastructure of the new services that are coming across.”
Irene Sobowale, chief executive of Brainkind, said the acquisition would help the charity achieve “more impact and greater reach” within its services and beyond.
The charity also plans to open a 40-bed neurological centre in York before the end of the year to further expand its services.
Sobowale said: “The new centre, alongside this acquisition, represents a significant increase in the number of people able to benefit from this investment into our brain injury rehabilitation and neurological services.”
Brainkind, formerly known as The Disabilities Trust, reported an income of more than £53m in the year to the end of May 2022, according to accounts filed with the Charity Commission.