A video showing a “little treat” given to NHS staff in Worcestershire has gone viral.
The TikTok video shows someone opening a small white package from Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.
On the front of the package are the words ‘A little treat to say thank you’ - and inside is a solitary teabag.
The video is captioned: “What my dad got at work as a ‘treat’.” The accompanying post says simply ‘Treat yo self’ with hashtags including #teaisahumanright and #clapforourcarers.
@eoc098 Treat yo self #nhsworker#teaisahumanright#nhs#clapforourcarers#treat ♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys - Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey
The thank you gesture has attracted derision online with one TikTok user saying: “Please tell me this is a joke? These workers are heroes. They should be getting free tea anyway. I’m fuming - the disrespect.”
A reply from the video’s creator said: “We don’t get anything for free in the NHS. We have to pay for our own milk and teabags and coffee. That’s why this is a gift!”
A tea bag and pen on International Nurses Day
One user said: “On International Nurses Day they gave us ‘care packages’ containing one tea bag and a pen. Cheers!”
Another added: “More than you’d get from any Trust in Birmingham.”
At the time of writing, the video had racked up 1.4 million views on TikTok in just one day.
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It has also been shared widely on Twitter, where people have been sharing other examples of so-called ‘tokenistic offers of support’ from employers.
These included a well-being pebble, out-of-date cake and a canteen voucher for less than the value of a hot drink.
Matthew Hopkins, chief executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said the tea bag was among a number of ways the Trust has been showing its appreciation to staff.
These include an additional paid day's leave and free meals for staff working over Christmas and the New Year.
“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," said Mr Hopkins.
“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.”
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