Supermarket in the hospital

I took this photo of an M&S Simply Food branch earlier today - any guesses where I was? A motorway service station perhaps? A shopping centre? A train station?

No, I was actually in my local hospital.

I was back at Royal Derby Hospital to see my consultant with the on-going hip issues mentioned previously. It's a really big, new and modern hospital and the main entrance is more like an airport waiting lounge with a Boots, Costa and the above-mentioned supermarket branch.

I had to stand for several minutes to take this picture because there were so many patients and visitors milling around, buying sandwiches, gifts and flowers.

But it having a supermarket in a hospital a good idea? Admittedly it's very convenient, and M&S do make nice sandwiches.

But I was chatting to a friend who works there last night and she said the M&S is also having a negative impact on the charity that supports the hospital.

The League of Friends charity is run by volunteers and raises money for a number of different hospital departments, wards and new equipment. They run a number of small sandwich and snack bars dotted throughout the hospital.

But according to my source, a lot of people are now going to M&S instead of The League of Friends shops - staff buying their lunches included.

One would assume that M&S is paying Royal Derby to operate a shop there, so perhaps it evens out. Or maybe it brings in even more money than the charity's shops do?

But I still think its a shame if the shops run by the volunteers are suffering as a result.