On Monday 19 January 2026 Provide Community marked the official opening of Provide Community Equipment with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and site tour attended by commissioners, partners and other stakeholders, celebrating a remarkable journey of mobilisation, collaboration and service transformation since September 2025.
Provide Community Equipment, based in Greenford East London, was established in early October 2025, following the closure of NRS Healthcare and the transfer of services to Provide Community. Faced with an unprecedented challenge, Provide Community, an employee-owned Community Interest Company specialising in health and social care, working in close partnership with the North London Equipment Partnership and local authorities, mobilised a fully operational community equipment service at exceptional pace, ensuring continuity of care for thousands of residents across eight London boroughs.
From the first meeting on Friday 12 September 2025, to contract signature on Monday 22 September 2025, as well as developing a brand, securing a warehouse, fleet and onboarding 162 colleagues who thought they were losing their jobs completely, by Friday 3 October 2025, the service began collections and deliveries across eight London Boroughs within hours of receiving the keys. Within days, the Equipment Loan Management System was live, enabling a phased but rapidly expanding service rollout.
Just four months on, Provide Community Equipment is delivering a high-performing, value-driven service:
- a contact centre handling over 1,000 calls per day
- over 7,800 collections per month, with an average completion time of just four days
- more than 9,500 deliveries, repairs and installations completed in December 2025 alone
- a recycling operation processing over 7,000 items per month, retaining 94% of equipment value
- minor adaptations, specialist equipment orders and P-Store deliveries now fully operational
The service’s recycling performance has been particularly transformative. In December 2025 Provide Community Equipment recycled equipment with a replacement value of £1.6 million, far exceeding expectations and outperforming historic benchmarks, achieving recycling levels comparable to those previously delivered across nearly three times as many boroughs. This has enabled significant cost efficiencies, reduced environmental impact, and will result in a significant rebate to commissioning councils.
The official opening event on Monday 19 January 2026 brought together colleagues from Provide Community Equipment and the wider Provide Community Group, commissioners, partners and future clients to tour the site, meet the team, and reflect on what has been achieved in a remarkably short time. Guests also heard about ambitious plans for 2026, including:
- a customer web portal for bookings and repairs
- advanced route planning and fleet telematics
- enhanced supply chain and stock optimisation
- the use of AI to analyse customer call sentiment and improve service design
Speaking at the event, Mark Heasman, Group Chief Executive at Provide Community, said: “The journey of Provide Community Equipment has been nothing short of phenomenal. What has been achieved in a matter of months is a testament to the dedication of our colleagues, the strength of our partnerships, and our shared commitment to protecting frontline services for residents. Today is not just an official opening, it’s a celebration of collaboration, resilience and what is possible when organisations move quickly with purpose.”
Councillor Anna Wright, Camden Cabinet Member for Health, Wellbeing and Adult Social Care said: “I am very proud of our collaboration with the North London Equipment Partnership and our partnership with Provide Community Equipment.
“When we were faced with this situation last summer, Provide Community Equipment’s person-centred approach helped us maintain the continuity of these vital services.
“Whether people were being supported at home, leaving hospital or receiving end of life care, people’s safety and dignity guided all of our actions, and we will continue to take this forward as we work in close partnership and show what relational commissioning and contracting looks like in action.
“We are grateful for Provide Community Equipment’s continued support and look forward to working together in Camden.”
While acknowledging there is more to do, Provide Community Equipment has already completed a comprehensive self-assessment, scoring 9/10 for mobilisation and setting clear plans to further strengthen stock availability, logistics and delivery performance over the coming months.
As Provide Community Equipment looks ahead, the focus remains firmly on continuous improvement, sustainability and delivering outstanding outcomes for communities and service users, building on a foundation that has already exceeded expectations.
