New hospital café prices spark row
STAFF and patients have launched an attack on "inflated" prices and lack of variety at the new café at Lynn's Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
The hospital has handed the caf, in the main entrance, to outside organisation Medirest, which has relaunched it as the coffee shop Caff Ritazza and Amigo shop.
Hospital staff used to get a discount at the old caf but say a temporary ten per cent discount at the new facility ends today, leaving them and patients facing costs of 1.30 for a cup of coffee.
Weekend and night staff argue it is particularly unfair for them because weekday working colleagues get to benefit from a lower cost staff canteen, where coffee is 45p a cup, which is not open at the times they are at work.
Miss Penny Clarke, who works as a bank auxiliary nurse at the hospital on Sundays, said the lack of variety of hot food, especially for vegetarians, is a particular blow.
She added: "We are being penalised for working unsocial hours. This comes on top of having to pay for the privilege of parking to work here and lots of staff are really upset."
Medirest says the caf offers a range of products at competitive prices and was never intended as a replacement for the staff canteen.
Hospital communications manager Richard Humphries said staff have access to vending machines, kettles and microwaves as well as the cafe and canteen, adding: "I can only suggest they do what the rest of us do and bring their own food and hot drinks and tackle it that way."
The new caf prices also struck a chord with Pott Row man Michael Marsom (59) when he visited it with his father-in-law Vernon Christmas, of Roydon, after an appointment.
Mr Marsom said: "Because he was not allowed to drink beforehand I thought he should have something straight away but when we got there we were faced with those prices."
A spokesman for Medirest said: "Pricing has been benchmarked against other well-known high street brands and we are very competitively priced against these offers. There is a caf-style menu with a popular range of offers, including vegetarian, available."
The criticisms follow an outcry from the hospital's fundraising League of Friends shop staff after Medirest began selling similar items to it in the Amigo shop, as reported in the Lynn News on Tuesday.
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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