'Yer tea's oot! '

April 20th, 2009

I am looking forward to returning to Parliament this week and getting a chance to quiz the health minister.

Like most people, I was taken aback by the news that the long-serving volunteers who run the tea bar at the hospital are to be replaced by a new coffee cafe.

The affordable and friendly service has been much-valued for visitors, patients and staff alike for as long as I can remember and the faces of the volunteers at the League of Friends will be well known to many of us.

And as everyone knows it is a service that is about more than just about getting a cup of tea and a bacon roll.

The volunteers have donated over £1 million from its proceeds and are currently raising more than £100,000 a year for good causes.

So I its understandable that the proposals to removal them have caused such anger and dismay in the community.

Its replacement, the Aroma Café concept that is popping up in other hospitals in Scotland, isn’t without merit.

All its proceeds are diverted back into hospital and it is an ideal way of competing against private ventures like Costa and Starbucks.

While this may be a good thing for some hospitals, it is certainly not right for Inverclyde Royal Hospital, which is well served by its volunteers.

I am sure the Public Health minister Shona Robison didn’t forsee the impact the Aroma Café concept would have on volunteers and charities when she endorsed the idea earlier this year.

But she can be in no doubt of the consequences after the furore it has caused in our community, with a petition receiving substantial support already.

I wrote to the minister myself last week to tell her that this ‘one size fits all’ approach isn’t right for Inverclyde.

And I will be demanding that she intervene to prevent this from happening when I question her in Parliament this week.