An NHS Trust sparked fury after it handed out single teabags as a treat to hero midwives and nurses, which many have branded an insult.
The tea bags were wrapped in white and blue packaging that said "A little treat to say thank you" and were part of a gift bag which included a certificate.
NHS staff and patients reacted with fury.
But bosses have said it was "a shame" their "act of kindness" was taken out of context.
Prof Liz Lightstone, an expert in renal medicine at Imperial NHS, said: "Actually beggar's belief".
"More never been lower."
Paul Aidan joked: "Even worse considering it costs £300 to boil a kettle at the moment."
One - called Mary- said: "Wow, a two pence gift. But you can't get a break to use it.
"What an insult."
Another - named Victoria - said: "I saw this and I laughed before remembering a trust actually thought it would placate staff.
"I've seen little packages with tea bags but that's very different to a solitary tea bag."
Julia said: "It would also surely cost more to give a branded envelope and to put a teabag in it than just to, ya know, provide a box of tea bags?"
A video was posted online of the offending tea bag, with the caption "what my dad got at work as a 'treat'."
But the boss of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust insisted the gesture had been taken out of context.
The gesture was to say "thank you" to staff on International Day of the Midwife and International Nurses' Day in May, a spokesperson for the trust confirmed.
Matthew Hopkins, Chief Executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "Of course we are hugely grateful for the hard work done by all our staff caring for our communities and we are always seeking new ways to show appreciation and kindness to our teams.
"As a thank you for all their incredible efforts during the pandemic we worked with our charity and our Trade Union partners to show our appreciation in a number of ways.
"This included offering every colleague an additional paid day's leave and for all our staff working over the Christmas and New Year fortnight, we provided a free meal each day.
"In addition, we have a wide-ranging support offer to protect their mental and physical health and wellbeing and we continue to offer free parking for all staff.
"By way of an extra small but sincere thank you to our midwives and nurses for International Day of the Midwife and International Nurses' Day, back in May, we sent each of them a certificate and a gift bag with a number of items in, including a branded tea bag, to encourage them to take a break.
"We wanted to let them know how much we appreciate all the hard work they do and also further raise awareness of the important work our hospital charity is doing to support our staff wellbeing.
"It's a shame that one small act of kindness, done with good intent as part of one of the many ways we say 'thank you' has been taken out of context in this way."
