To have my Sunday lunch at the hospital canteen?

Not odd at all. Our nearest hospital does excellent food - whether the patients on a ward or the staff and visitors in the canteen. It's about 12 miles from where I live, so not something I would ever do on a regular basis, but I have done it twice, when I was passing and it was lunch time!

Staff obviously get cheaper prices/discount, and anyone else pays full price - but the Full prices are very reasonable.

No - definitely not. I only go into hospitals if i absolutely have to. Too many bad memories would resurface, also possible increased chance of illness.

My dad used to do the same. He lived a 5 min walk from the hospital and went a few times a week for a cooked breakfast.

Depends on your local hospital, ours is a magnet for the great unwashed and people who treat a hospital appointment as a day out and bring all the family it’s utterly depressing and I can’t imagine spending a minute more in the place than I need to.

By your logic, hospital canteen staff would be sick all the time, but they're not.

YANBU, you're supporting a local business that's open to all, nothing wrong with that.

My nearest M&S for click and collect orders is one in a hospital, am I going to refuse to take advantage of click and collect because it's a hospital? No way!

Don't listen to naysayers.

Ill people, yes. Highly contagious people in the canteen? Less likely. Most inpatients do not use the canteen - they get their meals on the ward. Most inpatients (except maybe paediatrics) aren't in with contagious conditions.

The majority of customers in the canteen will be visitors, people who've been to outpatients, and staff. Occasionally relatives will bring a patient down, but that's not very often and wouldn't be allowed if they were in isolation on the ward. So I'd think the chances of catching anything serious would be fairly similar to visiting a busy shopping centre or similar.

OP, I've worked in hospitals for over 15 years and while I wouldn't make a special journey to eat there, I don't think it's the worst idea!

Why not? DS (now an adult) used to be a regular at Birmingham Children's Hospital when the Police Station over the road was still open - they had was no canteen so it was fairly normal to see uniformed coppers in the hospital cafe.

I think if you're there for visiting or an appointment, then fine, but otherwise no I wouldn't go just for food.

Don't worry, if they run out they will adjust their order for the new demand. You will be helping the hospital make money.

I think people finding it odd are odd. Go enjoy a roast!

(I'm with Joey on this one.)

Strange place to take your family. Eating at a hospital would give me the ick!

A hospital local to us actively promotes this. There's often a group of ladies that get the bus up and the have lunch there.

I can imagine this becoming more popular as people tighten their belts and restaurant prices are in some places piss takingly high.

A really ordinary pub near us advertising Sunday roast buffet for £19 a head? No way.
And that's just the main course. Desserts are £8. Apple pie and custard type.

Can't think of anywhere or anything I would rather do than go to a bloody hospital for a Sunday lunch!
I do work in a hospital so that might jade by view, but seriously, a hospital canteen?

The roast chicken I had for Lunch from my hospital canteen today was delicious. Only three tiny potatoes though. Felt a bit ripped off!

Ours is the same! It does good old fashioned school dinner type food ...it did sponge pudding and pink custard the other Sunday 😄

Yes I think a hospital is more likely to have ill people in than a restaurant. Because it's a hospital

I spend a lot of time hanging out in hospital canteens atm as my father is seriously ill and has moved hospital a few times.

I find the food quite good on the whole. Occasionally a bit bland but generally quite good quality. The cakes are quite good.

In one of the hospitals, there was a gang of friends (older women and one lone man) who seemed to come for lunch or tea most days. I hope this is not outing but one of them was referred to by the others as "Bunty" 😂. Tbf, they seemed to have a semi-official role in that some of them "volunteered" (I never worked out doing what!) on the odd day and then the others would come to join for a natter in the canteen. I enjoyed listening in on their conversations, they livened the place up.

Haha I thought the other day how much I wanted my hospital cooked breakfast (that I had post birth). You're braver than me to go though it would have felt odd, sorry!

I like a glass of wine with my Sunday lunch so it's a no from me.

Hospitals aren't somewhere I'd ever go by choice.
Depressing.
Surely a risk of catching something?

My friend's dad has his lunch in the hospital canteen most days. It's an easy walk for him and he likes the company.