Opinions divided after NHS trust gifts employee ‘a single tea bag’

An NHS trust has divided opinions this week after an employee allegedly received a single tea bag as a thank you.

Eva O’Connor claimed her dad, who is an employee at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, received the peculiar gesture in a small cardboard envelope in the post.

She shared a video of her dad opening the gift onto TikTok, which came with the message: “A little treat to say thank you” alongside NHS branding.

In the video, Eva added the text: “what my dad got at work as a ‘treat'”, alongside sarcastic hashtags such as #teaisahumanright and #clapforcarers. 

Social media users were less than impressed by the gesture, with many pointing out the ongoing issue with low wages and chronic under-staffing among the NHS’s workforce.

One person commented on the TikTok video: “The amount of money it cost to design and make could have gone toward a pay rise… Or at least just put a box of tea bags in the staff room.”

Another noted: “Ah yes. A nice cuppa to have on your break that you probably won’t get because of staff shortages.”

Other NHS employees used the video to share their own experiences with gifts from their employer, which included stories of hot chocolate sachets, pens and biscuits. 

One person shared: “My work gave us all a free sample (one sheet) of those colour catchers you put in the washing machine. Didn’t even try to hide the free sample bit.”

However, the NHS has defended its actions, saying the tea bag was merely one part of a hamper of gifts sent out as an ‘act of kindness’.

Matthew Hopkins, Chief Executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said in a statement to Proper Manchester: “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. 

“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.”

This comes as NHS nurses prepare to vote on what could be their first ever strike in a dispute over pay.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said it will be advising hundreds of thousands of its members to support industrial action in a ballot that opens in mid-September.