Unsecured Business Loans for Healthcare Practices
By Joshua Giles, Founder and Director · Reviewed by the CoreFi credit team
Last updated 20 July 2026
CoreFi is a broker, not a lender. We do not set rates and lenders make all credit decisions.
In short: £10k - £500k over 1 - 5 years. Healthcare is one of the sectors where unsecured lenders actively compete for the business.
Healthcare is one of the sectors where unsecured lenders actively compete for the business. A dental practice or private clinic with two or three years of clean accounts and a stable patient list reads as materially lower risk than a retail unit or a hospitality operator, and lenders price against that read. We cannot promise you a rate before the lender sees your figures, and no honest broker will.
The mechanics are simple. You borrow a fixed sum, repay monthly over one to five years, and nothing is charged against your property or equipment. Where this product earns its place is the mixed project. If you only need a single piece of capital kit, a dental chair or an OCT scanner, asset finance is usually cheaper because the equipment secures the deal. But when the spend runs across categories, a new treatment room fit-out plus a compliance upgrade plus a software system plus a few months of working capital to cover the revenue dip while you are closed for the works, asset finance cannot cover that combination. One unsecured loan can.
We have placed these for dental practices, pharmacies, physiotherapy clinics, opticians and veterinary businesses. CQC compliance costs, infection control upgrades, accessibility improvements and the goodwill element of a practice acquisition are all purposes lenders in this sector understand without a long explanation. The lender who says yes to a healthcare operator is usually a specialist commercial lender or a fintech with real appetite for the sector, not a high-street bank grinding through a credit committee.
Key Benefits
- Healthcare operators with clean accounts and a stable patient or client list tend to draw stronger lender interest than most comparable SME sectors
- The right tool for a mixed project: one facility covering fit-out, compliance spend and working capital where asset finance cannot
- No first charge on your practice premises and no personal property security required
- Usually faster to a decision than secured lending, because there is no property valuation to commission
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it better to use asset finance or an unsecured loan for dental equipment?
For a specific piece of kit, a dental chair, digital X-ray system or CBCT scanner, asset finance is usually cheaper. The equipment secures the deal and the rate reflects that. An unsecured loan is the better call when the spend is mixed: some equipment, a treatment room fit-out, an IT system upgrade, and a few months of working capital. You cannot split those across an asset finance agreement, but you can cover all of it with one unsecured loan.
Can locum dentists or freelance clinicians get funding?
Sole traders and self-employed clinicians can apply, but the lender leans more on personal income than on business accounts, and the amounts available tend to be lower than for a limited company practice. If you operate through a limited company, even a one-person one, the application is assessed differently and usually more favourably. Note that for sole trader and partnership borrowers some finance is regulated, which affects which lenders we can introduce you to.
What about CQC compliance costs?
Lenders have no problem with compliance spend as a loan purpose. CQC registration fees, infection control works, fire safety and accessibility improvements are mandatory costs rather than discretionary ones, and lenders in this sector know that. In our experience it rarely causes difficulty in credit.
Can I fund a practice acquisition with an unsecured loan?
For a full acquisition the primary facility is usually a commercial mortgage or a healthcare-specific acquisition loan, because the amounts are larger and secured lending is cheaper at that scale. An unsecured loan can sit alongside it to fund the goodwill element, a working capital buffer in the first few months after completion, or a fit-out the acquisition lender will not cover.
Work out your numbers
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Get matched with lendersCoreFi is a trading name of JG Core Ltd (Company #16218779, England & Wales). CoreFi acts as a commercial finance broker and does not provide regulated financial advice. All products described are unregulated business-to-business finance. Information on this page is for general guidance only and does not constitute a formal offer of finance. Terms, rates, and availability are subject to lender criteria and may change without notice.