04/03/2022 | Press releases

Post Office opens at Colchester Hospital for patients, visitors, and staff

A new Post Office counter has opened within WHSmith at Colchester Hospital today.

It will be open seven days a week – Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5.30pm and Saturday and Sunday 9am to 2pm – making it very convenient for patients, visitors and staff who are already on the hospital site to access essential Post Office services.

Members of the local community are kindly asked to use existing Post Office services at Highwoods, St Johns and Middleborough, and not to make special journeys into the hospital to use the new facility. This is in line with current COVID-19 safety policy at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) which runs Colchester Hospital.

Services available at the Colchester Hospital Post Office counter for patients, visitors and staff include bill payments, cash withdrawals, foreign currency requests, postage, as well as home shopping collections and returns.

Paul Fenton is Director of Estates and Facilities at ESNEFT.

He said: “We are very pleased to welcome the Post Office to Colchester Hospital and offer its services to our patients, visitors and staff. It will offer ease and convenience to many, which is appreciated.

“However, we still need to keep safety at the forefront of our minds and reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission at ESNEFT. That is why we will continue to ask everyone in all areas of our hospitals, including shops and cafés, to follow the hands, face, space safety advice.

“We are also politely asking our neighbours to continue using nearby Post Office services at Highwoods, St Johns and Middleborough and to not make unnecessary trips to use the hospital branch – this is so we can keep everyone safe.”

Damien Haydock, Post Office partner account manager, said: “We want to make it as easy as possible for patients, visitors and staff at Colchester Hospital to pay their bills, withdraw cash from their bank accounts, and send and collect their mail at a time and place that suits them best.

“We know how important our services are and that people who are in hospitals for work or for treatment may not always find it easy to get to a Post Office during the day, so we hope this will be a convenient and welcome addition at Colchester Hospital.”

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, ESNEFT has taken steps to reduce footfall across all its hospital sites. This is so the Trust can continue to keep everyone (patients, visitors, and staff) as safe as possible – whether they are in hospital for treatment, seeing a loved one, or for work.

All the Trust’s COVID-19 safety advice still applies too. Anyone in WHSmith, Marks & Spencer and Costa at Colchester Hospital must:

  • Wear a surgical face mask covering their nose and mouth
  • Keep a safe distance from other people, and
  • Sanitise their hands when they go in and out of the stores

The new Post Office counter opened on 4 March at Colchester Hospital for patients, visitors and staff

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