NHS begging letter

[crossabouthtis]

I received the below letter by email. I run a very small home bakery business.
I am not happy with it as I feel its very wrong to beg for freebies, its not even a request for a special occasion, opening of a ward or something.

In my opinion the NHS have been flooded with freebies and money off, all given freely so surely they have had enough not to need to beg.

We all love and support the NHS, I have been supporting them for the last 8/9 weeks by staying home and closing my small business, leaving me with no income!
Even if I wanted to donate i'd be hard pushed to with finances at the moment.

AIBU to think this is just rude and cheeky, what do you think?


''Hi
My name is xxxxxxxx and I work in a Hospital for the NHS. I was just wondering as a company if you could be so kind and send us some free goodies.
We absolutely love your goods and would really appreciate it if you could send us some.

Our address is: ''

And before anyone thinks it's not genuine, it is, it has all the proper headings, address and tags and checks out as real.

[Annabk]

I’m speechless! They should be approaching the likes of Greggs not small businesses

[crossabouthtis]

ps, name changed for this

[Moose42]

Was this an official request from the trust’s charity, or an individual being cheeky? My trust has received some lovely gifts, and I’d hate to think that they’d actually begged for them...but I can imagine some staff being cheeky enough to ask. It certainly hasn’t seemed like any of our donations have been asked for though.

[Jellycatismyspiritanimal]

just, wow!

[itbemay]

I would sent this back to the hospitals chief exec. Very cheeky! Sounds like a chancer on a ward perhaps?

[Tobebythesea]

So don’t donate?

[NewtonPulsifer]

Cheeky fuckers.

Dear hospital chief exec, if you are looking to cut costs, may I suggest starting with cutting hours of the staff members who have time in their day jobs to be emailing small businesses seeking “free goodies”.

[crossabouthtis]

Well it was from a named staff nurse, but using the trust email/address, all official as far as I can tell
And it appears generic so maybe its gone out to lots of people not just me.

[Elouera]

Ridiculous!!! I'd contact maybe PALS or the hospitals press officer (not sure who really) and check/ask if this really is genuine? Are you sure its not someone in their private home trying to get goodies delivered to their home?

[crossabouthtis]

I have no intention of donating, I am broke. Any cakes I bake need paying for.

[Howmanysleepsnow]

Definitely send the letter to the chief exec! That’s disgusting, even more so at a time when so many small businesses are struggling.

[Tropical2]

I used to work in the retail and hospitality industry and we used to get email, letters and phone calls like this all the time. It's been going on for years. They seem to work their way through the phone book so to speak, contacting every business in a certain area. It's nothing to do with Coronavirus and the current NHS situation. We just used to put such requests in the bin with the other begging mail, all the Charities do it too.

[BeingATwatItsABingThing]

That’s so cheeky! I’m not a business owner but if I was, I’d be happy to give out a few treats but because I wanted to. Begging would get nowhere with me.

[crossabouthtis]

It is definitely from a ward, it has the ward address

[popehilarious]

That's written terribly - anyone who's normally involved in fundraising etc (pretty much anyone hands-on in a charity?!) would know to draft a much more gracious request.

This reads similar to the doctor on Twitter who was tweeting Jo Malone and White Company to ask for freebies, although he went so far as to suggest that they 'hate the NHS' if they didn't... (presumably joking but still distasteful).

[LizzieVereker]

Wow. How embarrassing.

[DontRockTheB0at]

I doubt it’s officially come from the trust. It sounds like an individual has taken it upon themselves to ask for freebies for their ward or department. I’ve seen a couple on social media. If someone from my trust did this, my understanding is they would be asked to take the post down and all request for items for patient use would go via our official charities page. We occasionally ask for nappies, fleece blankets or share a knitting pattern for specific items. We would never ask for ‘free stuff’ for staff. That’s outrageously rude and entitled!

[Moose42]

If it was a staff nurse, it won’t be an official request from the hospital. All official stuff like that will go through the NHS trust charity. It’ll be someone who has taken it upon themselves to request for their ward/work area without going through official channels.

I’d report them to the trust. We’ve been told that all donations, whether asked for or donated spontaneously, need to go through the appropriate person in charge of donations at the trust charity. They make sure they are fairly distributed, and the business gets an official thank you etc. And also that the donations are appropriate (not all PPE is for example).

[Jen4813]

Omg that is so awful! I had never considered NHS staff might actually be asking for free things, always thought it was company’s trying to promote themselves/do a good deed. Shocking coming from ‘health professionals’

[Moose42]

Just to add about the ward address being used, all emails I send from my work email have my department contact details. Doesn’t mean what I say or ask for is approved by the trust, or even my manager.

[PrincessMaryaBolkonskaya]

OP, Trust letter templates with the logo on are widely available on intranets to hospital staff. I would be amazed if it had been sent out centrally from the Trust. I think you should pop it in an envelope FAO the Chief Exec or Customer Complaints. It’ll be an over zealous person thinking that they’re “helping”.

[x2boys]

I doubt it's from anyone official,I expect,it's just a,member of staff on a ward chancing it ,contact the ward and speak to the ward manager,I bet they have,nt endorsed it.

[amijustparanoidorjuststoned]

Oooh. That is very cheeky of them!!

I'm sure they've probably tried their luck with other companies as well. I would imagine they have contacted bigger chain companies too!

I would honestly never dream of sending a begging letter to a small business though. You are right - especially after all the donations of food and toiletries the NHS have received in recent months.

[ChasingRainbows19]

Our trust wouldn't allow us to do this. It'll be a staff member trying to get freebies not the hospital. People have been very generous but we are still working and getting paid. Save the freebies to those in need.

[Bluntness100]

That’s appalling, I’d also send that to a senior manager with a simple response saying I am unable to donate and feel concerned the trust is approaching businesses in this manner. Ensure the staff name is visible

I think someone’s thought, with all the clapping for the nhs etc that it’s a prime opportunity to get some free stuff.

There should at least be a disciplinary if not dismissal for using the trust identity and their position to send out begging letters.