WifCafe Coombe, The Coombe womens hospital

Ghandee

My wife was admitted for a week due to high blood pressure, baby born on Wednesday of this week.

1 x turkey salad sandwich
1 toasted cheese only pannini
1 x sprite zero (500ml bottle)
Bottle of water (500ml bottle)
Bottle of cranberry juice (500ml)
2 x bags of Tayto
2 x "free" apples..............

Anyone care to guess how much I was charged for this lunch?

lynski

i'd say about 20 euros? the only good thing there is that the coffee is not bad
I think hospital cafes are a disgrace, no one chooses to go to a food outlet in a hospital, so they should have a very low profit margin.

Terrontress

with news like that, who gives a toss what you were charged.

Congratulations on the new arrival!

borderlinemeath

Congratulations Gucky & to Mrs Gucky.

I would imagine you were charged through the roof.
At least you didn't go to Holles St were your car would be clamped as well!

And as for the cost of the lunch? Tip of the iceberg - buggies, car seats, sterilisers, bottles, clothes, nappies, creche fees, school fees, college fees.....
I feel you'll be posting about a lot of things soon!!

Enjoy your time with the new arrival.

the groutch

€25.80?

Ghandee

Hi folks, only getting a chance to reply now as my hand are pretty full this week lol!

Suppose I should try and see the bigger picture, what with new arrival (our first actually) but when your wife had been stuck there for over a week, it did begin to annoy me quite a bit!

The answer incidentally was €19.90 disgraceful if you ask me! No one chooses to be hospitalised, and when you bring someone down for a cup of tea etc, paying through the nose like that is simply extortionate imho!

Slasher

I thought it was going to be a lot more than 19.90.

The wages of the staff have to be paid and the food has to be bought. So, you're either going to pay for it at the till or in your taxes. Either way, you're gonna pay.

P.C.

Price of lunch for two at a maternity hospital in Dublin - €20 :mad:

That feeling of holding your newborn child for the first time - priceless.

Congrats on the new arrival. :cool:

the groutch

not a major rip-off, I'd expect to be charged at least €15 in most places

Ghandee

the groutch wrote: »

not a major rip-off, I'd expect to be charged at least €15 in most places

Cmon, this is why the countries, in the mess we're in! For arguments sake lets call it 20 euro?

So, for 2 x sandwiches, one of which had no meat, salad, etc.
Couple of bottledm drinks and tayto crisps....

like, some folk could get a weeks groceries out of twenty euro!

certainly not value, put it that way!

borderlinemeath

I would also have estimated about €15

I can see why you would be annoyed - basically the only option for your wife to get out of the ward/room would be to visit the on site cafe so they are really exploiting a captive market.

On the other hand - they have to cover their costs - I'm not familiar with the cafe - whether it is a cash cow for the hospital or a franchise paying high rent to the hospital for guaranteed footfall day and night.

It's like the airport where you have to dump your water and buy an exorbitantly priced bottle when you get through the security barriers (ironic day to be talking about this) it bugs you but you're not left with much options - go hungry/thirsty or pay the premium...

Boy or Girl by the way? You haven't said!!

Terrontress

I hadn't expected it to be that dear and, looking over it, it doesn't seem to be justified.

But still; healthy baby! Money can't buy!

Well done!

91011

I estimated about €18 - but don't blame the sandwich bar - blame the hospital managers who charge a whopping rent to them. - Works on same outdated principals of airports shops - carge a whack of rent as retailer can charge higher prices because the customer is constrained within the environment.

In the UK, this went out the window a good while ago at airports, train stations and particulary at NEC & other event halls. - Now UK event / airport prices charged are the same as any street / shoppong centre, therefore more people use them, turnover is up and profits are up.

Unfortunately hospital managers are crap at understaning business and rip off the vendor who in turn has to over-charge for the goods.

A reasonable price would be

1 x turkey salad sandwich - 3.50
1 toasted cheese only pannini - 4.50 (vat on hot food)
1 x sprite zero (500ml bottle) - 1.50
Bottle of water (500ml bottle) - 1.30
Bottle of cranberry juice (500ml) - 1.80
2 x bags of Tayto 1.50 (75c each)
2 x "free" apples.............. 1.20 (60c each)

Reasonable total giving reasonable profit - €15.00

ejmaztec

Gucky wrote: »

Cmon, this is why the countries, in the mess we're in! For arguments sake lets call it 20 euro?

So, for 2 x sandwiches, one of which had no meat, salad, etc.
Couple of bottledm drinks and tayto crisps....

like, some folk could get a weeks groceries out of twenty euro!

certainly not value, put it that way!

Was there a car-park charge as well, or is this one of the rare places that you don't get robbed for that too?

rubadub

Gucky wrote: »

No one chooses to be hospitalised

Exactly so they have you by the balls, unless you bring in your own food.

91011 wrote: »

A reasonable price would be

1 x turkey salad sandwich - 3.50
1 toasted cheese only pannini - 4.50 (vat on hot food)
1 x sprite zero (500ml bottle) - 1.50
Bottle of water (500ml bottle) - 1.30
Bottle of cranberry juice (500ml) - 1.80
2 x bags of Tayto 1.50 (75c each)
2 x "free" apples.............. 1.20 (60c each)

I thought it would be quite a bit more than that, more inline with cinema prices. I used to work in a hospital and the prices were crazy, though I got staff discount and had stuff at a fraction of the price.

Ghandee

ejmaztec wrote: »

Was there a car-park charge as well, or is this one of the rare places that you don't get robbed for that too?

Yeah, but surprisingly enough carparking charges were reasonable(ish)
€2.50 up to 3 hrs, and a further 2.50 an hour after that.

Surprisingly enough, the day our daughter was born I arrived at hospital at 9am, and left at 9pm, but they have concession charges for births, all day for €7.50!!!!! ( must have proof baby was born that day)



Bargain!!!!!!!!

91011

Gucky wrote: »

Bargain!!!!!!!!

This is what fatherhood does to you - you start getting soft!:D

Congrats on the baby - keep a supply of blood pressure tablets, you may need them when you see the price of baby stuff!:p

And then because she'll be daddy's girl, it'll be doubly expensive when it comes to pocket money!