Online shop launched by the Friends of West Suffolk Hospital to raise funds through ward deliveries

A hospital charity has launched a new online shop to help raise funds and offer a service to families, staff and visitors at West Suffolk Hospital.

The Friends of West Suffolk Hospital hope people will use the online shop to order items for delivery to patients or staff on the wards, with anything ordered before 11am Monday to Friday delivered to wards the same day.

Sarah Steele, treasurer, and Lizzie English, friends shop manager, are behind the project, which was inspired by a similar scheme launched by the Friends of Milton Keynes Hospital.

Lizzie said that since Friends volunteers who ran the shop's trolley service to the wards had to stop because of the pandemic, the charity had been looking at other ways to promote shop sales.

“I had the idea in my head for a long time and you have to keep up with being current and fresh, especially when Covid struck and we could not get the trollies round any more," said Lizzie.

"We feel we want to continue to provide a first-class service for patients, their families and staff – in fact anybody that comes into contact with us.

“We have even had patients from abroad so their relatives can get on-line and we can then get their items up to the ward. The majority of things we have in the shop we have on the site."

Sarah said the Friends had seen a drop off in trade through the pandemic and hoped the online shop would help address that.

“We had to focus on keeping the shop operational during Covid but now we’re coming out of it we felt the time was right to embark on this new venture,” said Sarah.

Find the online shop at https://www.wsfriendsshop.co.uk/

The Friends of West Suffolk Hospital raises funds from subscriptions, donations, legacies and profits from the shop, which is run by Lizzie, part-time staff and volunteers.

The funds support the hospital by providing equipment, refurbishment of facilities, enhancements to services and items of comfort.