Shop blow for QEH Friends
FUNDRAISERS at Lynn's Queen Elizabeth Hospital claim they have been "hit below the belt" after a new business selling similar items to its own shop opened in the same concourse.
Outside organisation Medirest opened its Caffe Ritazza and Amigo shop, next to the hospital's long-established League of Friends' outlet, last Monday after a 400,000 project to replace the hospital's old snack bar with a high street-style coffee shop.
Friends' shop manager Barbara Bush said Amigo was selling similar lines, with newspapers, magazines, toiletries, confectionery and soft drinks, but it was too early to say what impact it would have on the Friends' income.
"We would hope that people will stay loyal to us as we are buying equipment for the hospital – and the hospital staff are being very loyal at the moment," she said.
Mrs Bush said it would be heartbreaking if it reduced the amount the Friends could put towards buying new equipment, as the rental paid by Medirest would not go towards that cause but into the trust's revenue funds towards running costs.
"We are not worried about the caf side because it needed upgrading, but having another shop there hits below the belt," she said.
A spokesman for Medirest said: "We have responded to the trust's request for a modern, high street-style retail offer. The services we provide via our Caffe Ritazza and Amigo shop are standard offers which are proven to meet customer needs in a hospital environment and meet this brief.
"Initial feedback has been very positive."
Hospital spokesman Richard Humphries said Medirest knew of the Friends' shop in the same location when it agreed to provide the new coffee shop and pay rental for the space.
"They decided to have a similar shop venture – but it's still early days and they may decide there's other things they should be selling than items similar to the League of Friends' shop," he said.
"There's obviously a need for a facility of some kind for visitors and patients here and we are happy for them to continue doing what they feel is the best thing in the circumstances.
"At the moment there seems to be a conflict of interests, but it is at arm's length from the hospital and we can't tell them what they should or should not be doing. It's driven by market forces."
Mr Humphries said the hospital valued the Friends' support, but it negotiated a contract with Medirest to provide a new caf area for patients and visitors because the snack bar needed revamping and the trust did not have the money to do it.
He said the Friends also had a shop trolley touring all the wards so that bed-bound patients could buy items.
mike.last@
lynnnews.co.uk
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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