SHOPPERS at Bridgwater’s Paragon Place Co-op store have paid for a thousand pounds worth of improvements to the town’s community hospital.

The store has chosen Bridgwater Community Hospital as one of the recipients of money raised by the Government’s 5p plastic bag levy.

Norma Coombes, matron at Bridgwater Community Hospital, said: “I want to say a huge thank you to the Bridgwater Co-op and its customers for making this donation possible.

“We will partly spend the money on sprucing up the two sitting rooms on Waverley ward into a more homely environment, which will help achieve our aim of encouraging patients to leave their beds and walk over to communal areas.

“We will also be looking at other areas of the hospital to see what can be done there to improve the experience of patients.”

Rebecca Hooper, sister on Bridgwater Hospital’s Waverley ward, said: “It’s such great news that we can continue to improve our sitting rooms as it will give our patients that little extra place to go to socialise while they are in hospital.”

Jeremy Fricker, president and chairman of the Radstock Cooperative Society, added: “We are using the money we raised from the 5p bag charge to benefit the local community.

“We are very impressed with the new hospital building and it’s clear that there’s a great community spirit here so we are delighted to be able to contribute in this way.”