Co-op pays dividends for surgery fund

Billingborough Co-op store customers have raised an amazing £5,598 over a year for the Springwells Medical Equipment Fund, a charity set up over 30 years ago to buy equipment to benefit patients of the village's Springwells GP surgery that might not be funded by the NHS.
By The Newsroom
Published 28th Nov 2018, 08:31 BST
Updated 8th Jan 2019, 17:21 BST
Billingborough Co-op, community funraising event. L-R Christine Espinosa - vice chair, Graham Eames - chairman, Robert Taylor - manager of Billingborough Co-op. EMN-181126-093321001Billingborough Co-op, community funraising event. L-R Christine Espinosa - vice chair, Graham Eames - chairman, Robert Taylor - manager of Billingborough Co-op. EMN-181126-093321001
Billingborough Co-op, community funraising event. L-R Christine Espinosa - vice chair, Graham Eames - chairman, Robert Taylor - manager of Billingborough Co-op. EMN-181126-093321001

Equipment, which is loaned out by the Fund, is chosen to improve diagnoses, cut down on time or staff needed to treat and care for patients, and even provided a chair which converts into a couch for blood tests. Due to the rural nature of the GP practice, many chosen items are portable, explains chairman Graham Eames, who attended a presentation of the Co-op membership dividend fund at the store as one of three local causes to benefit.

He said the money also helps update and replace equipment, and he believed directly assisted the surgery being the first in Lincolnshire to be rated Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission. The fund also holds its own fundraising events too, including the Christmas Coffee morning held in early December.

Pictured, from left - Christine Espinosa - vice chairman of the medical equipment fund, Graham Eames - chairman and Robert Taylor - manager of Billingborough Co-op.

Related topics:Co-OpNHS