A fundraiser programme to buy coffees for nurses at Basingstoke Hospital has crossed £1,400.

Organised by the Equality and Diversity group at Queen Mary’s College, the programme is aiming to collect as much money as possible to show support to the NHS staff who have been working tirelessly since the start of the pandemic.

The money raised will be used to buy vouchers from Costa Coffee so that the staff can collect something sweet on their way home after an exhausting day of work.

Beth Linklater, the person behind the fundraising drive, said there has already been a great support for the campaign, but her team would need a lot more support from well-wishers.

“There's over 1,000 medical staff at Basingstoke hospital. I don’t know if we could raise £10,000. I completely get that.

“But there are 300 nurses. So we're thinking if we could at least raise £3,000, that would be a £10 voucher for each of the nurses. But obviously, it's a long way to go.”

If you wish to contribute to the fund, you could transfer a small amount to: Account Name: NH Hospitals Charity; Sort Code: 30-90-53; Account Number: 02087971; Reference 4201 COSTA.

Ms Linklater said her team started the drive after listening to a nurse talk on Radio 4.

“I was listening to Weekend Woman’s Hour on radio 4. They were interviewing a nurse who was just exhausted. You could hear her voice and know how desperately sad she was.

“And she was saying that during the first lockdown, there was a lot of love for the NHS. People were continually going to hospital and giving them things and clapping. And this time around, when it is so much harder, the love seems to have disappeared. It's almost as if people have done all they could.

Ms Linklater, who works at Queen Mary’s College, discussed it with the Equality and Diversity group and decided to support the local nurses in a small way.

“One of our members, Simon Barnard’s wife Caroline is a nurse at Basingstoke hospital. When he asked her, she said a Costa voucher would be really nice. At the end of their shift, when they are really exhausted, they could just pop into Costa and buy a nice hot chocolate or a cake or just some sort of sweets for themselves.

“So I tried to get in touch with the hospital to find out how we can best help. We finally got in touch with a lovely lady called Vickie Richens , who set up a hospital charity account for us.

“I'm a trustee for Basingstoke Voluntary Action. And they advertised for us. A lot of my friends put it on Facebook and Instagram.”

She has also been in touch with Costa Coffee at Festival Place. Their manager Pushpa has promised to offer 10% discount for the staff from now until the end of April. The discount can be availed at Costas at Festival Place, The Malls, Basingstoke drive thru and St Michael’s Retail Park.

Ms Linklater added: “I was really hoping that Costa would match the funds we give. Because fundamentally, the money that we raise is going to be spent in Costa.”

However, their national officer has told her that they could support only national campaigns.

“But their Basingstoke manager Pushpa has been really helpful. But ideally, I want all the Costas to get involved and support this drive.”

Bank account details:

Account name: NH Hospitals Charity
Sort Code: 30-90-53
Account Number: 02087971
Reference 4201 COSTA.