To have my Sunday lunch at the hospital canteen?

[Vacmat]

I don't work there, am not sick and wasn't visiting, but a friend works there and said they did a decent roast for £6.50. We'd had a busy morning and by late afternoon still needed lunch. Remembered conversation with friend and decided to try it.

It was fine. Nothing gourmet, but on a par with most chain pub roast lunches.

Is it odd to go to the hospital just for a cheap lunch?

Yes I agree, see my post above. It's worth the increased risk of spreading disease because there is a benefit for ill people seeing loved ones. Although when the risk is extremely high (eg Covid, very immunocompromised people) even that benefit is not enough to outweigh the risk.

People who don't need to be in hospital, who are not visiting anyone, wandering in, are all risk (to themselves and others) and no benefit.

In my eyes, it’s weird.

I live very near the hospital and have on occasion had a meal there (not when I had an appointment!)
It was a hearty meal but I have to say it's not very relaxing environment! 😂 So I don't think I'll be making a habit of it!

"More serious than a virus"? HIV is a virus, and an airborne virus - Covid - killed about 7 million people.
Even a URTI (a cold) can kill a patient on cancer therapy.
Also you don't necessarily know you have a virus until you might have been spreading it around for a day or two.
All in all, best to stay away from a big building full of people you know are definitely ill unless you have a reason to be there, imo.

The Sunday lunch was one of my absolutely favorite things about visiting my mum in her care home, so I think I see where you are coming from, OP!

Not odd at all. I've done it myself, and so have others. It's open to the public so why would it be weird?

In Taiwan they usually have a food court in the basement, with KFC/BK/Starbucks and many local brands. But inpatients aren’t supposed to go, so they have to change out of their hospital uniforms and sneak in. That’s quite inconvenient if they are on a drip or can’t change clothes, but luckily there are plenty of local cafes and restaurants around the hospital to cater for them. So you see quite a lot of folk trundling their wheeled drip trolleys around the streets and the back alleys in the hospital area, looking for beef noodles and hotpot options.

Groups of people used to go from church to our local hospital for Sunday lunch. Unfortunately it's no longer open at the weekends or the evenings, but I go for lunch fairly regularly, and I've met friends there for coffee. I've yet to meet anyone in real life who finds it strange.

It is, perhaps, a little unusual but then I had lunch at a Garden Centre and didn't buy any plants or weedkiller or fence paint. Or gravel.

YANBU to go. However, there is a greater chance of getting ill. Nosocomial infections are common, handwashing isn’t going to help for the number of airborne infections, nhs staff have higher number of sickness days partly because of high exposure and poor airborne infection control, viruses can hang around in the air for ages.

You don't really hear of MRSA being rife in your local restaurant do you.

Plus hospitals are overheated so germs spread like wildfire.

No way would I go to those germfests unless I had to.

"HIV is a virus, and an airborne virus"

HIV airborne??? What?? It's pretty difficult to catch from what I understand. We were all told either via sex, blood or being born to a mother with it.

Brings to mind the Paul Merton line "more people due in hospitals than snack bars" from a purely scientific viewpoint

I used to work opposite a hospital and often went there with colleagues to have lunch.

AFAIK they're open to the public and not subsidised, just cheaper than commercial options because they don't have to make a profit and pay below commercial cost for their premises. I'd have thought the more meals they sell the better due to economies of scale.

You've misunderstood. @FrodoBiggins meant that HIV is one virus, and another virus (an airborne virus called COVID) killed about 7 million people.

Ah, OK.

You’d pay that just to work at mine 😂

Park even 🤦🏼‍♀️

I certainly wouldn't at our local hospital as it's incredibly grim and filthy, I'd probably come home with mrsa, covid and a few other things to boot! But yours may be different!