OakNorth Bank has provided a £760,000 loan to Nightingale Healthcare Group to acquire Care Unique, an independent care agency providing a service for people needing care and support in their own home, including childcare.

Bradford-based Care Unique provides care to individuals who may have a disability or are physically frail and housebound due to their age.

The business has a Care Quality Commission rating of Good and its care staff speak the languages of those they’re caring for, and prepare meals taking into account cultural and religious considerations.

Nightingale Healthcare Group is a new entity set up by former policeman Mo Moosa, which will be run by Yvonne Warrington, a social care professional with 34 years’ experience including managing domiciliary care services, audit and quality programmes for 350 care homes.

Care Unique’s owner-founders, Davinder Singh and Baljinder Kaur, will remain involved with the business on a part-time basis.

Moosa, said: “As a police constable, caring for those in my local community is what gets me out of bed in the morning. With Nightingale Healthcare Group, I hope to build on this, providing domiciliary care to the local community from carers who speak the same language and understand the cultural and religious requirements of those they’re caring for. Like our caring staff, the team at OakNorth Bank were incredibly helpful, attentive, and open in their approach. We look forward to working with them again as we build the business.”

Al Morris, director of debt finance at OakNorth Bank, commented: “Mo is clearly driven by his own experiences with domiciliary care and is determined to improve the livelihoods and care conditions of elderly people in his local community. The pandemic shone a spotlight on just how important the social care sector is, and the positive impact that good domiciliary care can have on the mental health and wellbeing of those being cared for. Mo is acquiring a strong business and building a strong team led by Yvonne, so we are delighted to be supporting his new venture and hope to help with future transactions as the group grows.”