VOLUNTEERS were today working their last shift on the WRVS tea bar at York Hospital as the charity prepares to open a new caf and shops on the site.

From Monday morning the new facilities in the entrance of the hospital - created as part of a major redevelopment of the site - will be open to the public, with more choice and longer opening hours.

But some long-standing volunteers are unhappy about the changes because it means the small traditional tea bar in the entrance will no longer be in operation - although the bars in the rehabilitation centre and at nearby Bootham Park Hospital will remain.

One volunteer, who did not want to be named, said she felt that she had been "thrown away as of no relevance" after she found out on Wednesday that the small bar would not be running alongside the new caf, as she had been previously told.

She said: "We were led to believe that we were going to be staying more or less as we were.

"We were shown a room we were going to have where we could serve the patients as we have in the past.

"Then we were told in the 11th hour that the room will not be used.

"This has come as a real blow."

Ingrid McFerron, national development manager for the WRVS, said she regretted the fact that some volunteers were unhappy, but said they were welcome to work on the other two bars or in the new caf - as many had already signed up to do.

She said: "I know it's a big change, and I do sympathise with our long-standing volunteers because it's hard for them to go into a new area.

"But this is a brilliant opportunity for the WRVS and we have worked extremely hard with the hospital trust to get the best for the patients."

Danny Morgan, director of facilities at York Hospitals NHS Trust, said the joint decision was made because two WRVS units so close together was not viable.

He said: "The volunteers are very dear friends of the hospital and my only wish is that they will see the changes and perhaps participate in them."

Updated: 08:37 Friday, August 08, 2003