NHS Trust responds to ‘out of context’ fury over teabag gifted to staff as ‘thank you’ for pandemic efforts
An NHS Trust which gifted its staff with a single teabag to say “thank you” for their work – sparking fury online – has said it is a shame its “small act of kindness” has been “taken out of context”.
The Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust-branded teabag was given to staff in appreciation of their “incredible efforts” during the pandemic as part of a gift bag containing a number of items.
Workers were also were also offered free parking and an additional paid day’s leave, while staff working over the Christmas and New Year fortnight were provided a free meal each day for their dedication.
But after a TikTok video was shared widely on social media showing the child of a staff member opening up her father’s teabag, which bore the message “a little treat to say thank you”, the Trust was slammed for offering staff the “two pence gift.”
The clip, which was also posted to Twitter, was captioned: “What my dad got at work as a ‘treat’.”
Users reacted furiously to the video, with one person writing: “Hey @WorcsAcuteNHS what on earth were you thinking? This is so insulting to underpaid staff.”
The NHS: “we value you, we need you” “your sweat and tears is what makes the NHS the NHS” “you are heroes”
Also the NHS: pic.twitter.com/kDmbMTjcbO— platinumpizza (@Xeon4f145d96s1) August 11, 2022
Another said: “Wow, a two pence gift. But you can’t get a break to use it. What an insult.”
Poverty activist Jack Monroe also weighed in on the outrage, writing on Twitter: “I’m loathe to knock any small acts of kindness and appreciation as a rule but giving folks a single teabag without the accompanying pay rise to afford the extortionate energy bills to boil a kettle and the stranglehold of privatised water companies does feel kind of useless…
“Without the means to turn that teabag into a nice hot drink it’s just an ornament?!”
But one that perfectly sums up our modern culture, I guess. Gesture politics PR, however well meant, without any consultation or consideration for the person on the end of it and what their specific needs might be. And not the fault of the chronically underfunded NHS, of course.
— Jack Monroe 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 (@BootstrapCook) August 12, 2022
The Trust’s cheif executive has now responded to the online accusations, insisting the gesture was one of “kindness”.
Matthew Hopkins said:“Of course we are hugely grateful for the hard work done by all our staff caring for our communities and we are always seeking new ways to show appreciation and kindness to our teams.
“As a thank you for all their incredible efforts during the pandemic we worked with our charity and our Trade Union partners to show our appreciation in a number of ways. This included offering every colleague an additional paid day’s leave and for all our staff working over the Christmas and New Year fortnight, we provided a free meal each day. In addition, we have a wide-ranging support offer to protect their mental and physical health and wellbeing and we continue to offer free parking for all staff.
“By way of an extra small but sincere thank you to our midwives and nurses for International Day of the Midwife and International Nurses’ Day, back in May, we sent each of them a certificate and a gift bag with a number of items in, including a branded tea bag, to encourage them to take a break.
“We wanted to let them know how much we appreciate all the hard work they do and also further raise awareness of the important work our hospital charity is doing to support our staff wellbeing.
“It’s a shame that one small act of kindness, done with good intent as part of one of the many ways we say ‘thank you’ has been taken out of context in this way.”
