POOLE Hospital refused to serve hot cross buns to patients on Good Friday amid fears the cakes might offend religious minorities.

That is the claim from angry kitchen staff who contacted the Daily Echo to reveal how they had been inundated with calls from nurses saying how disappointed patients did not receive the traditional Easter treat.

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In many historically Christian countries the buns, which are made with currants and yeast and are topped with a cross symbolising the crucifixion, are traditionally eaten on Good Friday.

The email from kitchen staff said: "We the kitchen staff of Poole Hospital were disgusted to find that the patients were not getting hot cross buns this morning.

"The manager of the catering department said he was worried about the ethnic minorities that work here."

A spokesman from Poole Hospital Trust apologised to patients who may have been expecting a bun.

"We are unable at this time to confirm why it was not possible to serve patients hot cross buns on Good Friday," he explained.

However, the hospital's management team reassured patients and staff that buns would be served to patients on Monday.

It is not the first time the buns have courted controversy.

In Easter 2003, it was revealed that several local authorities in England, including Tower Hamlets Borough Council, had banned schools serving hot cross buns on the grounds of political correctness.

The first recorded use of the name hot cross bun was in 1733, but they date much further back.

Protestant English monarchs saw the treats as a dangerous relic of Catholic beliefs, as they were baked from consecrated dough used in the making of the communion wafer.

There were attempts to ban them, but they proved too popular and instead Elizabeth I passed a law permitting bakeries to sell them, but only at Christmas and Easter.