NINETEEN people will lose their jobs when a charity which supports NHS staff and patients closes its three shops at the end of the month.

Colchester League of Hospital and Community Friends is closing its shop at the front of the Turner Road site, as well as the one in Gainsborough Wing and at the nearby Primary Care Centre on October 31.

The move will mean 19 part-time staff are made redundant and Frank Jordan, chairman of the trustees, said it would be “the end of the charity as we know it”.

Mr Jordan, who has been with the charity since 2002, said: “We have been going for more than 60 years but the climate has changed in that time, particularly with the new retail units at the hospital.

“It has been difficult to compete with M&S and Costa in particular but also with WH Smith.

“Although our prices are competitive we are outside the hospital entrance and people have to make the effort to come here.

“It has become difficult and because of Covid there are far less visitors to the hospital.”

The charity says it has been running its shops at a loss for more than a year, a situation which can’t continue any longer.

Mr Jordan said: “Pumping funds into a loss-making business is not something we can do any longer.

“At the end of the day we have to be commercially viable or we cannot continue.”

Director John Dobson added: “It is not a question of blaming the hospital, it is society today which has led to this.

“The hospital needs to move on and expand and make itself more financially viable. Unfortunately some times the small people cannot keep up.”

The league is in discussions with the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Trust about maintaining some sort of presence on site.

The idea of the group merging with the Colchester and Ipswich Hospitals Charity has been mooted, but discussions are in the early stages.

Mr Jordan said: “We may still be here in a different form but it is the end of the charity as we know it.

“We weren’t sure about the new shop being viable but we thought we owed it to the hospital, public and staff to give it a go.

“We must say a big thank you to our staff, volunteers and the public for supporting us over the years.”

Almost 1,500 people have signed a petition to save the shops. Visit bit.ly/3lCF00H.