More than 119,000 items delivered, over 78,000 collected and £4 million being returned to council partners, Provide Community Equipment is celebrating a remarkable first year of helping essential equipment reach the people who need it.
Since launching in October 2025, the service, based in Greenford, West London, has demonstrated what a different approach to community equipment can achieve, combining increasingly reliable delivery with exceptional levels of equipment reuse to make public resources go further.
Behind every delivery is someone who needs equipment to support their daily life. Behind every collection is an opportunity to help someone else.
In its first 12 months, Provide Community Equipment delivered over 119,000 items of equipment, collected over 78,000 items and answered over 96,000 telephone calls, retaining more than £18.5 million in equipment value for its system partners.
By recovering equipment and returning suitable items to use, the service has reduced the need to purchase new stock, keeping valuable resources available to support communities.
Joe Coogan, Chief Operating Officer at Provide Community Equipment, said: “Equipment reuse has been central to the service’s success, exceeding the expectations set when the contract began delivering equipment into eight London Boroughs for North London Equipment Partnership.
“Together with wider operational efficiencies, this performance means £4 million is being refunded to the service’s eight council partner, a substantial financial benefit at a time when making the most of public funding matters more than ever.
“The results demonstrate the potential of a service designed around getting equipment to people efficiently, recovering it when it is no longer needed and helping it support someone else.”
Provide Community Equipment is part of Provide Community, an employee-owned community interest company, where social value and a focus on public benefit sits at the heart of the group’s approach.
Joe added: “Our one-year anniversary also marks an extraordinary achievement for the colleagues who built the service.
“Before mobilisation, there were no staff onboarded, no vans, no working IT system, no stock and no access to a warehouse. Within a year, the team had established an operation delivering more than 119,000 items of equipment, with on-time job completion performance at around 95% in recent months.
“Customer service has also strengthened, with calls now answered in less than 30 seconds on average, giving a better experience for prescribers and customers.
“Listening to customers continues to shape improvements. Following successful trials across six routes, guaranteed morning and afternoon appointment slots are being extended across the service, giving customers greater certainty about when to expect a visit.”
Jacqueline Garraway Commissioning Manager at North London Equipment Partnership, said: “The transformation across the Provide Community Equipment site this last year has been clear to see. Every area reflected strong teamwork, collaboration and a shared commitment to delivering an excellent community equipment service.”
Provide Community Equipment enters its second year with ambitions to build on this progress, strengthen service resilience and continue improving the customer experience.
Deliveries are forecast to reach 125,000 to 150,000 items during the second year, while the team’s experience is already attracting interest from other councils seeking to understand and learn from its approach.
For now, the first anniversary is an opportunity to recognise everyone who has made this progress possible: colleagues, commissioners and partners working together to help essential equipment support more people.
One year on, the results show the difference that commitment can make, for individuals, communities and the public resources they depend on.
Find out more about Provide Community Equipment on their website.
