Coffee shops in hospitals ‘ripping off’ customers

COFFEE shops located in hospitals are “ripping off” customers who have no choice but to pay over the odds, according to a leading charity.

A survey carried out by Friends of the Elderly — due to a high number of complaints it had received on the issue — has found that branches of popular coffee shops located in hospitals are often charging more than city centre outlets.

The project was undertaken at the main Dublin hospitals by student intern Karen McAdoo. She found that the worst offenders included coffee shops in St James’s, The Mater and St Vincent’s Hospital, which were found to be more expensive than the Dublin 2 outlets of Insomnia, Starbucks and Kylemore.

An Americano at St James’s Hospital costs €2.40, while in Starbucks at College Green it costs €2.35 — the same price as Kylemore in Merchants Quay, Cork.

Ms McAdoo said special deals offered in city outlets were not being replicated in hospital branches of the franchises.

“We cannot understand how hospital coffee shops whose rents and overheads are a small fraction of their city centre equivalent can justify charging the same or more,” Ms McAdoo said.

“Our elderly friends are frequent hospital visitors. For many of them, the state pension is their only source of income. Most of these hospital coffee shops are a monopoly. They are not paying expensive city centre rents or rates. We believe the elderly should be given a discount in hospital coffee shops, not charged a premium rate.”

However, there are exceptions to the rule.

“James Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown charges €0.85 for tea and €1.15 for coffee and €2 for tea or coffee and a bun — so it can be done,” Ms McAdoo said.

Dermot Kirwan of Friends of the Elderly said it was time to stop the hospital coffee shop rip-off and he urged them to reduce their prices in keeping with the reduction in prices in city centre coffee shops.