Hospital shop put on hold
Hospital bosses have put on hold plans to open a controversial new NHS-run Coffee City outlet at Telford's Princess Royal, it was revealed today.
They now want to review what impact the new Coffee City at the Royal Shrewsbury is having before expanding the service into the Telford hospital. The total cost of setting up the two coffee shops will be £110,000.
But the Shrewsbury and Hospital Trust was today urged by the leader of the Princess Royal League of Friends to "knock on the head" the project.
The League, which has raised more than £1 million for the hospital, fears its outlet could be put out of business if the Trust opens a second shop.
The Shrewsbury outlet opened last month and operates from early morning to 8pm. At the same time opening hours have been drastically cut at the staff canteen, which it is claimed, doesn't make any money after 2pm.
Steve Shanahan, Trust finance director, said today: "We are reviewing what we have done before committing to building at Telford."
But Alan Millward, Friends of the PRH chairman, said: "Things are on hold because the cost implications are far more than they were led to believe.
"They want to knock on the head the whole thing because they are wasting taxpayers' money."