Over £750,000 in unrecoverable debt has been written off by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust after a coffee company went into administration.

AMT Coffee, which provided two cafes at the trust's hospitals, appointed Interpath Advisors as its administrators in November 2022, after suffering a drop in sales during the pandemic.

The chain's cafes at the trust were among 18 of 43 to close following its acquisition by SSP Group in the same month.

Louisa Cowell, chief financial officer, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: ‘Since 2016 AMT Coffee provided two cafes at our hospitals. In 2021 the impact of the pandemic, which caused a drop in the number of people in our hospitals, meant they then struggled to pay the money they owed us from this point.

‘This was additional money, on top of the NHS funding we receive. As soon as the first monies became owed we used every avenue available to recover the debt but in 2022 AMT went into administration and we have been informed that there is no money to repay us. We therefore have no choice but to write off the money owed from our accounts.'