"Patients Shop at Rampton Hospital (Zest)"

Thank you for your comments about the patient's shop at Rampton.

Our Hotel Services Manager at Rampton, Bev McLeod, sent the below response to me, I am posting it on her behalf.

In regard to your comment relating to the order only being available 1 hour at a weekend:

Zest staff are available at a weekend to take orders between 10am and 11am, both Saturday and Sunday. This one hour time slot on both days ensures that resources are available to focus on the receipt of orders. At 11am the staff are then free to make up the orders and deliver them the same day, if time allows. If there was no definitive time slot for ringing with an order there is a risk that no one would be available to answer the call. A majority of customers have expressed positive comments regarding this system as they are guaranteed a response to their call. On average we receive 5 calls per time slot at the weekend. There are of course allocated time slots during the week which amount to 3.5 hours each day, Monday to Friday. We are receiving an increasing number of relatives and friends utilising the service since the introduction of the prearranged slots, which would suggest that the shop may have potentially been missing callers in the past..

In regard to your comment relating to lines that are stocked in the shop not being available to relatives:

The list is designed to have a variety of lines, including a wide range of healthy items. The team try to ensure the items that regularly feature on the form are always in stock, or available within a couple of days e.g. fresh fruit. Unfortunately all lines that are sold in the shop are not guaranteed as being available from our suppliers. Therefore, in order to avoid disappointment if not available, they are left off the list. The number of stock lines in the shop is quite extensive and all of these cannot be maintained 7 days per week. Our patients visit Zest between Monday and Friday and at the weekend stock levels are checked and orders placed with suppliers with a view to delivery early the following week.

I apologise that you may not have access to all lines but for practical reasons and those stated above, we cannot deviate from the published list at the time the order is being placed. However, I am aware that regular reviews are undertaken and changes or introductions made in response to suggestions or requests from relatives and friends.

If there is something in particular that you would regularly wish to purchase, please speak to a member of the shop team who will advise you if this can be accommodated.

Thank you for your comments.