Hospital tea bar volunteers wake up and smell the Aroma as NHS bosses trial new high street-style coffee bars

Published on Saturday 25 April 2009 20:00

THEY are an institution across the NHS, having served up tea, ham rolls and sympathy to patients and relatives for decades.

But the traditional hospital charity tea bar is under threat from new Starbucks-style coffee shops being set up to replace the tea urns with "high street quality" lattes, cappuccinos and muffins.

In one case, the ladies of the Tea Bar at Inverclyde Royal Hospital, Greenock, who have raised more than 1m in the last 37 years, have set up a petition to protest against the new fair-trade "Aroma" cafe set to replace its foyer stand.

And the WRVS, which operates 75 hospital cafes, shops and trolley services in Scotland, is now "urgently seeking talks" with the NHS.

Tea bars have run for decades, raising money for their hospital hosts from tea urns and home baking.The WRVS, which operates the vast majority, raises around 1m a year and has 4,000 volunteers.

But NHS Facilities Scotland, which runs non-clinical hospital services, has launched a pilot scheme for its own-brand "Aroma" coffee bars to replace existing hospital cafes, some of which are run by boards themselves and some of which are run by charities.

The new shops will sell ethically sourced coffee from Kenya, Guatemala and Brazil, organic tea and low-fat, low-salt sandwiches and scones.

Two have already been set up at Glasgow's Royal Infirmary and Southern General Hospital and four more will follow in Glasgow and Highland. Profits are to be given back to the NHS, and if successful the scheme will apply across Scotland.

But critics say the comparatively high prices will put customers off. And having to pay staff wages and pensions, rather than relying on volunteers, will drive profits down.

A row has broken out at Inverclyde Royal Hospital over its plans to replace the tea bar, run by the local League of Friends group, with an Aroma cafe.

Yesterday Jean Rees, chairwoman of the group and a tea bar volunteer, said there was huge opposition to the move.

Typical prices charged by the charity are 45p for a cup of tea or instant coffee. Fresh rolls with cheese, ham, turkey or corned beef cost 80p each.

A Cafe Aroma coffee costs between 1.25 and 1.95 and sandwiches are from 1.20 to 2.45. Cakes and scones are around 1.

Rees said: "We have a lot of patients coming over for clinics from the islands, Millport and Bute, and they get a roll and a cup of tea, and come back after their clinic and away they go home again, and they say that's just magic.

"We are not a yuppie culture in Inverclyde. People just don't have money and we know the people we serve. You don't see people walking about Greenock with Starbucks.

"People come in with drops in their eyes and will hand over their purse to you, or don't have enough and ask if they can pay you back later.

"You are mixing with the people you are helping, and they are putting money back into the hospital. It's nice to see the benefits of just giving them a wee cup of tea.

"We just make up rolls. It's not high-tech stuff, it's very basic but it's all made up as we go along, all day long.

"If it gets stopped, it's up to the women to decide what to do with their time. But we were making 100,000 a year. We are not going to stand in the hospital foyer rattling cans."

Rees is now in talks with NHS Greater Glasgow to try to halt the plan. But there are concerns other tea bars will also be scrapped.

A recent memo from David Bedwell, assistant director at Health Facilities Scotland, reveals the aim of the scheme, which he expects will also raise extra funds for the NHS.

Bedwell said: "Many front-entrance locations within the NHS are operated by retailers from the private sector who have identified that the best locations for high-street coffee chains are airports, railway stations, universities and hospitals. NHS Scotland has a variety of prime retail locations with a captive audience and high footfall."

Yesterday he added that the service provided by volunteers over the years had been "invaluable" but that if the pilot was successful it was up to boards to decide what to do.

Yesterday a spokesman for WRVS Scotland said: "While we have every sympathy for NHS Scotland's need to make best use of its resources, we are very concerned by any suggestion that it is a foregone conclusion that should one or two pilot cafes do well, Aroma will automatically come to occupy every hospital cafe outlet across every NHS region in Scotland.

"This would effectively eject WRVS from the NHS in Scotland.

"Can there really be an intention to discard these thousands of men and women who have given selflessly of their time and effort to support our health Service for so many years? "

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "NHS Health Facilities Scotland will fully evaluate the trial in the autumn to ensure that it offers an improved service to staff, visitors and patients and that income generated is ploughed back into the NHS.

"If the outcome of the trial is positive, NHS Health Facilities Scotland plan to offer the concept to all health boards. It will be up to boards to decide whether to take it up."

Margaret Watt, chairwoman of the Scotland Patients Association, said: "It would have been prudent of the NHS to take these volunteers on board with them, even to staff the cafes. I think what is happening is a bit shabby."

Cup of char versus the cappuccino culture

LEAGUE OF FRIENDS

Decor: stainless steel teapots, snacks displayed in Tupperware tubs and drinks served in polystyrene cups

Staff uniform: blue tabard

Prices: Bovril 30p, biscuits 24p, corned beef roll 80p

AROMA

Decor: sleek lines, gloss black counter, lattes mixed by baristas

Staff uniform: black shirt and hat

Prices: coffee up to 1.95, healthy-eating "clootie dumpling scone" 1, Coronation chicken sandwich 2.45