HOSPITAL FOOD

I am very pleased, that at long last, there is a campaign to improve the standards of food in hospitals which will bring England into line with Scotland Northern Ireland and Wales. It seems ironic that there are regulations in force regarding food and quality in prisons but not hospitals

A few years ago I wrote to the Chief Executive of one Hospital Trust about the awful food served to patients many of whom had been parishioners. I remember on one occasion seeing a plate of what was supposed to be fish in white sauce and was in fact a tiny piece of fish floating in a white translucent bowl of milk which the patient refused to eat. I had a reply to say that the hospital was changing its supplier and things would improve which they did ever slightly.

In theory food from a heated trolley was served to patients and there was a choice. In practice the problem was that if the patient happened to be in the wrong part of the ward by the time the trolley arrived there was no choice and the food was stone cold because the staff hadn’t bothered to plug the trolley into the electricity which they were supposed to do. In theory the trolley was supposed to start and finish at different points each day; in practice it just went round in the shortest possible way on some wards. All the food was imported because there were no facilities to cook in the hospital. I’ve known people bring food in for relatives as the food served was so dire and/or it was insufficient. On one occasion I witnessed a patient eating fish and chips which were stone cold and I seen many meal left uneaten because they were so uninviting/inedible.