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Hospital food "a puddle of grey on the plate"?

Update from Care Opinion

Posted by on

 

Patient Opinion’s hot topic this week:

 

(Image from:Hospital Food Bingo )

"Hospital trusts are spending as little as 90p per patient per meal, recent figures released by the NHS have shown"

 

When we hear the words ‘hospital food’ most of us pull a grim expression, or in extreme cases gag, whilst remembering a questionable macaroni cheese we were once served as an in-patient. For years now we have been stuck with a poor impression of hospital food – indeed, we would rather declare ourselves ‘nil by mouth’, than have to face a disconcerting plate of ‘food’ three times a day.

 

Or, in the words of one person on Patient Opinion: “The fancy printed menu gave illustrations of meals on offer which bore no resemblance to the food that actually arrived.”

 

Why is it the one place you would expect a decent meal is the one place people so often seem hungry and unsatisfied? A 90p meal would surely be better placed in a ‘bush-tucker trial’ rather than a hospital? 

 

As described by one patient on our site:  “The cauliflower had been cooked to the point it had no structure, and was a puddle of grey on the plate covered in a congealed sauce which was apparently cheese sauce.” –now that sounds tasty! Fortunately, the hospital replied saying they are planning to improve the menus – so with the help of patients things, perhaps things are changing.

Understandably hospitals have to be economical but patients aren’t after nouvelle cuisine, just a simple, tasty meal. One blogger in 2009 was so distraught over the quality of food he was being served that he decided to upload a photograph of the meals each day on the internet, inviting people to guess the dish.

 

According to an article from the Daily Mail posted in 2010; ‘Failed attempts to improve hospital food have cost taxpayers more than £50million in the last 10 years’. It’s a shame when improvements cost lots of money and don’t seem to improve things!

 

What’s your story? Do you have any gruesome tales of hospital food or have you been so satisfied that you have polished off the plate?

Response from JimL on

I was stuck in Leeds General Infirmary ward 53 for 10 days about 14 months ago. The food was entirely reasonable. I never had any trouble finishing it, and the staff were very helpful if you missed the round, or needed an extra cup of tea or whatever. A bit more roughage and a bit more fruit might have been helpful, but in general I ate everything that was put in front of me.

Response from GrumpyOldPensioner on

In my experience, one way to ensure that you get food which is above average is to find out if the hospital has an ethnic menu and then to order from that. Whilst I was in hospital in Bristol the food was not too bad but I fancied a change from the standard menu. I discovered that the hospital had an ethnic menu which was not generally publicized. On looking at this menu I saw something I fancied (Thai green curry) and wrote this on my meal order for the day. Unfortunately my wishes were thwarted on that day because the kitchen asked the ward staff what colour I was and refused this meal on the grounds that I was not "ethnic"; one of the very sweet non-white health care assistants agreed with me that this was racial discrimination. I got round this by negotiating with Mohamed in the next bed to me. His family brought food in for him so he did not eat hospital lunches but was happy to order on my behalf :-) In addition there was a rather good restaurant used by patients, visitors and staff in the hospital. The downside of this establishment was that they would refuse to serve you if you were in a dressing gown; I offered to take mine off when this happened :-)

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