A PRIVATE firm paid £112 for a teaset for Princess Anne's visit to Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester but taxpayers were not left out of pocket said NHS leaders.

However a spokesperson for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said the money did not come from them but from ISS which provides cleaning and catering services at the hospital in Charles Hastings Way.

The Worcester News made enquiries about the teaset after a reader on the paper's Facebook site suggested the teaset cost the trust £600.

An NHS spokesperson for the trust said they did not pay a penny of the cost and the price suggested was not accurate.

The reader said: "Wish the papers knew about the £600 teaset the hospital brought to serve princess Anne tea in last week. The money that hospital wastes is so bad."

A trust spokesperson said: "ISS purchased a tea set (8 cups and saucers) for the Royal Visit for £112.50 on advice from representatives at the Palace. There was no cost to the trust for this."

The Princess Royal officially opened the county’s new oncology centre and midwife-led birth unit at Worcestershire Royal Hospital on Monday, April 13.

She was given a tour of the centre by trust chairman Harry Turner, where she met members of staff and volunteers, spending some time speaking with each of them, before being serenaded by the Voices for Health choir, a group made up of NHS staff from around Worcestershire.

Addressing the crowd before unveiling a plaque marking the official opening of the centre, the princess said she was very impressed by the £22.5 million facility and was pleased patients in Worcestershire no longer had to travel to Coventry, Cheltenham or Wolverhampton for treatment.