To think staff in a hospital coffee shop should have their own priority queue?

[Thorilicious]

Just getting a coffee while visiting a relative in hospital. A few of the people in the queue are paramedics, nurses. I think they should have their own queue, so that they can be served first, so they aren't wasting their break queuing.
(I would have let them in front of me, but the queue only built up once I had paid.)

I think they should. I also think they should get free parking or provide a free park and ride system.

We have a staff only canteen which is basically hospital food and a lovely coffee shop. Every now and then I think I'll have a treat lunch from the coffee shop but never do as I would not have time to eat it once I got it. Half an hour break, 5 min walk to coffee shop and fifteen min queue. It's a shame as they do such lovely food.

@Souquet posted too soon. In The majority of hospitals, there is no staff canteen, let alone it being subsidised!

Do you work in health care

Yes I disagree too. What if the visitor is a parent or family member to someone who is very sick or dying and they've literally just nipped out to get a quick coffee and need to get back to their loved ones. Also if staff keep getting served before visitors then how will they ever get served. Just doesn't make sense and wouldn't work.

That’s good, but there are loads in my experience. I travel to a lot of hospitals for work and see it.

Erm no . We have the same as the visitors. No priority queues. We don’t have coffee machines or vending machines on wards either. I’ve never thought about the queues tbh. We get half hour break if we actually can take it so it doesn’t go far. I mostly take my own things in for a 13 hour day but a coffee treat is nice occasionally.

We get a small percentage off but it’s from a private company that runs it not the nhs.

No, we have staff rooms with kitchens and coffee machines in most areas. We can weigh up whether we have time to queue or not.

Pretty sure there aren't many subsidised NHS canteens.

I also think that given the problem in the NHS is that staff are leaving faster than they can be trained as replacements - primarily due to poor working conditions and stress rather than specifically pay - that putting money currently spent on staff wellbeing into "patient care" probably isn't the panacea you might imagine it would be.

Hospital staff here. I actually think there's no point.
Some of the people in the queue may be visiting a dying relative or be told something horrendous. Some of the staff may be spending the day manning a nearly empty clinic, they are more able to wait than some relatives.
Also on the rare occasion I make it to the coffee shop I don't want to run back to the ward. I've got away for a reason, I've allowed time to wait around when I made the judgement that I could escape.
Also a lot of staff in coffee shops have huge orders as they order for their department and bringing back things for people.

I don’t agree. If they’re queuing at a coffee shop then they’re on a break so they have time to wait. Same as the rest of us that have to queue for lunch or a coffee during the working day, except most of us aren’t lucky enough to have a Pret or a Costa in the building we work in.

While I can see where you’re coming from, in a hospital there are so many different reasons why someone would be upset or stressed and I don’t think it would be helpful for patients or their relatives to have to wait longer, and patients should be the priority because that’s who hospitals are there to serve.

As long as staff have a room with a fridge and a kettle they can use then they are being catered for adequately.

The ward staff make hot drinks and biscuits for relatives who are visiting very sick patients on my ward unless the visitors wish to take a break and leave the ward for a while. They can also sit in our relatives room.

Do you mean the staff have to pay for parking at their place of work? That's outrageous.

I used to work a late shift in Sainsbury's and was allowed to park near the security because of having to leave alone late at night. Hospitals should do that.

It is a scandal that hospitals have to scrape money out of staff and sick people and their visitors.

Our staff room is a tiny cupboard in comparison to the unit. Not great when covid is running its way around the staff again.

No coffee machine just a kettle!

You are assuming every non staff person isn’t in a rush. And every time an staff person arrives, they oversee the non staff person?

seriously - it would be bedlam! And very uncommercial

just because someone works for our (nackered) NHS, they should be shushed through to the front? There are many many deserving jobs out there

My friend works in a hospital, and she and her colleagues aren’t allowed to eat anywhere other than the hospital canteen shared with the general public. Their departments don’t have staff rooms so the canteen is often filled to the brim with hospital staff. And many departments are right at the other end of the hospital so it can take ten minutes to walk to the canteen and ten minutes to walk back leaving only a short amount of time to queue up then find a table to eat at.

Anybody seeing this at their local hospital, I’d encourage you to write to the feedback department at your hospital and make suggestions for separate queues etc. My friend said that managers listen a lot more to patient and visitor feedback than staff suggestions.

@Mybeautifulfriend22 in the hospitals (NHS) that my parents worked in, there were staff canteens, as well as coffee machines etc. on the wards in the break rooms.

As I said upthread, I didn't realise that wasn't the case everywhere, but I'm still glad it happens in some hospitals.

They must have rest areas for staff surely
Don't they have a kettle for tea and coffee making?

No they don’t. At least not in the Trust I work in anyway.

@Mybeautifulfriend22 same here, ours is tiny, coffee machines - I meant vending machines in corridors. I still weigh up whether I have time to queue for a drink depending on what the day is like.

No staff room in my dept or separate catering facilities for staff at our hospital.

We have our own staff canteen. I think we are one of the few left who do, because most hospitals always used to.

My only issue would be that a lot of those visiting the coffee shop could be patients up from wards. When my dad was in he was barely mobile but he made the effort to get out of bed every day to slowly walk to the concourse so he could get his paper and then he always brought a coffee back with him. It definitely played a part in aiding his recovery and keeping him mobile and I don't see why an able bodied doctor should stand for less time in the queue. It's a tricky one because i don't disagree with the idea of allowing staff to be served before visitors, but when you add patients into the maid it muddy the water a bit.

No staff canteen at the hospital I work in

Yep. My hospital canteen is 5 floors up in a building 10 minutes walk away from my ward so by the time you get there, need to down it on the way back! There's a coffee shop for everyone slightly nearer but still in the same building and we need to queue with everyone else. Only get 30 minutes break if we're lucky!