IT IS the hospital café that has supported hundreds of Hampshire patients for years and is now facing closure.

The tea bar at Southampton Hospital Eye Unit may have to shut its doors if more volunteers do not come forward.

The League of Friends, the charity that manages the café, is appealing for volunteers to keep the bar going and support patients and staff.

Beryl Gatesman, chair of the committee, said: “If we will have to close it will be a disaster for patients and volunteers. Sometimes patients need to wait long hours and if they cannot even enjoy a cup of tea or coffee waiting can be even worse.”

The bar has been supporting patients and staff members for many years and raised money to buy new equipment in support of those with sight problems.

“Volunteers create a sort of family and if we have to shut they will miss this”, Mrs Gatesman said.

The bar is open from Monday to Friday from 8.30am until 3.30pm and volunteers are needed to cover three to four hour shifts.

“At the moment we are likely to have only one volunteer per shift and it is not enough.

“We also need more people to cover shifts when other volunteers are on holiday or cannot turn up due to family problems”, she said.

Kathy Byles, 68, retired, from North Baddesley, has been volunteering at the café for four years and said: “It can be packed out with patients waiting for treatments and they are all very grateful that we are here.

“We make friends and we know regular patients.”

Glenys Colborn, 83, retired, from Southampton, is a regular customer at the tea bar as she takes her husband to the Eye Unit once a month for eye injections.

She said: “We need these ladies here because otherwise we’ll have to walk to another refreshment point at the main hospital building and it’s too far.”

Bryre Butcher, ophthalmology operations manager at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The League of Friends tea bar is a really important part of the eye unit.

“It makes a great difference to our patients, who are able to buy a cup of tea or a snack while they are waiting and to our staff who need to grab a quick snack.”

Those who would like to help in any way are encouraged to contact Beryl Gatesman by calling 02380 770876.