A new fruit and veg stall that was trialled outside a hospital is to become permanent after evidence that it discouraged smoking around the main entrance.
Fresh Ideas 4 You was initially installed outside Worcestershire Royal Hospital for a trial three-month period this summer, after being invited by the hospital trust and its contract management company ISS Facilities.
Customers at the stall include visitors buying fruit for patients, hospital staff, and members of the public travelling specifically to buy produce, Fresh Ideas 4 You said.
A spokesman for the hospital trust told local paper Worcester News that the stall was partly designed to discourage people from smoking around the entrance.
“We have had problems with people smoking by the main entrance and there is something about people not wanting to smoke around fresh food,” he told the news outlet.
The trial has been so successful that it will be replicated at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch later this month.
Quinn Speers, general manager of ISS Facilities, told Worcester News: “This initiative has been popular across many other NHS trust sites nationally, including at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.
“My aim is for it to demonstrate our commitment to supporting staff and local enterprise and there is some evidence that it is discouraging smoking around the main entrance.”
