To expect better food choices on a childrens ward?

[NoodleFace]

Chips, mash, beans, fish fingers, chicken nuggets, sausage and pasta with bolognaise or cheese sauce. AIBU To think this is a disgusting choice of food for a childrens ward?

We have been in hospital since Wednesday and this is the daily menu, occasionally there will be a choice of jacket spud (no fillings other than above) or sandwiches, beans subbed for peas.

Is it unreasonable to expect more variety, with potentially a different special dish each day? Maybe a casserole or baked dish in addition to the other rubbish food options?

So bogey where would you like the NHS to take money from to pay for better meals? The fact you haven't answered that shows that you have entirely missed the point.

I don't work in NHS management, but I do work in healthcare, and I see a system which does a bloody good job most of the time.

I'm sure parents would rather bring in food then face a bill in the hundreds of thousands for healthcare. That's what parents in the us face, but I'm sure they have a goof menu.

But the foods they are supplying are foods that the vast majority of children will eat, so they can bulk buy and bulk make. If you start introducing variety, with that comes waste and thus expense.
I wonder if they couldn't offer this as per op, plus small portions of anything on adult menu?

Given the amount of tax and NI paid by the vast majority, why should there be an "either/or" choice?

Managers spaff money on bullshit in the NHS by doing risk assessments on toasters on wards when that money could be far better spent by actually feeding the patients the diet the the NHS spends £££££ promoting.

Yet again you have missed the point. Funds are finite. The NHS budget is decreasing. Most people take more from the system than they put in financially, do you not know that?

It is an either or situation. You can spew rubbish about managers but all organisations need them, even the NHS.

I absolutely hate the fact that the standard children's menu anywhere is fish fingers, sausages, chicken nuggets, chips or smiley faces and beans or peas! Why do people think that children don't want to eat real food, with texture, taste and nutrients?

I have spent a lot of time in hospital over the years, as have my kids. We've always taken food in. When I'm in I survive on toast and fruit salads that DH brings in for me. The hospital food makes me feel really ill, the only time it hasn't was the night I had DS2.

OP you have my sympathies. The food at North Manchester General is absolutely awful on the adult side. I have tried a few different hospital cuisines and NMGH is probably the worst.

Apart from the time my grandad was in a Derby hospital and all the hot food was put in the cold side of the trolley and all the cold in the hot. The meals cooked in the trollies so the ice cream was steam cooked and the meat and 2 veg was frozen. No catering on site so no back up plan for the inedible evening meal apart from a few sandwiches.

Yes funds are finite, and we are bloody lucky tk have the nhs but thats not the argumens. Someone above mentioned more wastage, i cannot believe that that would be the case. Im not saying put more money into the food but to change a menu. It dosent have to cost more when bulk buying. A 4 weekly rotating meal like in school perhaps, more variety. For example amschool meal for a primary aged child is on average costing parents £2 per day. So £4 for 2 meals and thennpeanuts for bulk porridge, cereal, milk and perhaps a fruit or a yoghut on top for breakfast. It just needs to be tweaked to provide a healthier balance. I looked at this article (www.theguardian.com/society/2013/oct/15/hospitals-spending-food-patients) and for some hospitals spending a huge amount on food it really wouldnt be a problem and those on less they really could improve it.
There are budgets for everything.

YANBU. When DD was in hospital for eight months having chemo, we had to spend a fortune buying her fruit and vegetables as the hospital food was basically all fat and carbs. Macaroni cheese (white sauce really, no actual cheese) and plain pizza were the most common offerings. There were apples on the trolley, but her mouth was often too ulcerated from the chemotherapy to be able to eat them, she needed something softer. They did the same options with cooked to death frozen corn and peas most days, but she got so sick of it that the tastelessness of it combined with the change in taste and nausea from the chemotherapy meant she couldn't force the exact same thing down every day after a few weeks. Without buying her the majority of her food she lost weight and had to be tube fed overnight, getting those tubes into her was really traumatic for her, it was scary, it hurt, when her platelets were low it made her nose bleed and they had to be replaced regularly as the chemo made her vomit them back up again. As parents of course we were entitled to nothing, not even a discount at the hospital dining room, and as we were over 100 miles from home and had to share a small fridge and microwave with about 20 other families cooking a proper meal for ourselves was pretty well impossible too. It was so hard and lots of families are living like this if they have children who need long hospital stays. We ended up badly in debt between the loss of income and all the extra costs of being so far from home. It might seem like a small issue to those who haven't lived it, but when you are on the sharp end for months at a time and several hours away from everyone you know, you depend upon healthy food being available for your child so much more than you might imagine.

I suspect the reason that most restaurants have rubbish children's menus is because experience tells them that is what sells and that most families do not buy naice food for the children.
If there was overwhelming demand for great children's menus, then restaurants would meet that demand.

Ah.. so you are middle manager who's role is utterly pointless. I get it now!

Flufflymouse I suggest you read DianaTrent's post and then tell her that it is a "minor issue".

Bogeyface - have you experience of spending an extended length of time on a children's ward with a gravely sick child?

DS is a regular inpatient for 2-3 weeks at a time, the food isn't great, it's Fish Stars, Chicken Dippers, Ham Sandwich and then some sort of meat in sauce type thing.

I find after 3-4 days of DS excitedly getting the food menus he starts getting low and actually quite depressed that's a combination of being in hospital AND the food so he starts not eating until I bring him in food everyday.

The parents room is terrible, no more toaster and bread supplied, no mugs, plates or anything except plastic cups and limited tea/coffee supplies and a fridge for food brought from home.

Last time I was there I offered to pay for a toaster and a crockery and cutlery set (a big cafe type one) but they said honestly, people just stole it so there wasn't a lot of point

When we go to London for DS's treatments mealtimes are a whole different call game, it's fun, the food is served at tables for those able to get out of bed, it's brought to the dining room in a fire engine trolley and there is so much choice! They bring round cakes and fruit mid afternoon and the parents are looked after.

This is the difference between a hospital with Central funding and one without

I would just like to sing the praises of Northampton General Hospital here - my DS1 was admitted with suspected meningitis (it wasn't, it as a different and thankfully much less harmful illness), and when he couldn't or wouldn't eat the nurses asked what he would like and got it (bacon sandwiches from who knows where!). It was a turning point coincidentally, and he came home two days later, but I'll never forget their kindness.

The staff there were also amazing after my c section with ds2 so I am feeling generally pretty blessed by the NHS personally.

I should have added, apart from the food, DS receives fantastic care by really kind, hardworking nurses, doctors and HCA, housekeeper, cleaners and play staff.

We manage with the food, I bring things in or he grazes from the many shop runs I do, he's I a high calorie/salt/fat diet anyway so it's fine. It was more pointing out the difference between hospitals and the fact that the quality has slipped in catering where we are.

Bogeyface - have you experience of spending an extended length of time on a children's ward with a gravely sick child?

Yes and no. Extended stays, yes. Gravely sick, thankfully no.

But what difference does it make? 1 day, 1 month, 1 year, it shouldnt make any difference to the quality of food a child is offered.

My lo was readmitted on day 5 to ambulatory care. As a breastfeeding mum I was offered a lunch. The choices were a hot meal or a lunchbox. I choose a lunchbox as tbh I really didn't feel like eating. I tnink there should be more choice.

Where I work, the choice of food for children is good, there is a variety. It's not all chips and beans, although we have those too. Unfortunately it all tastes the same, dry and tasteless. I don't know how catering get it so wrong. It's the same in the canteen.

The reason some hospitals don't have toasters is because people set off the fire alarms. The firemen then confiscate them.

A lot of stuff also gets stolen or thrown away, it's why mugs and cutlery disappear. I heard of one parent who actually threw the whole plate and cutlery in the bin after her child has eaten.

YANBU

Does seem a bit unimaginative but I would be relieved that I know my boy would eat something he recognized. But every day. Does seem a bit grim, espesh if they're in for a while.

like the adult food is any better? I always bring my own no matter which one of us is in. Even made a packed lunch for DH when I was in labour with DD1 and took that for him because he was on nightshift and coming straight from work.

I'm not bothered about choice and I don't think it should be a priority when budgets are stretched. I've been in hospital with DD a few times and was impressed with the adult meals. I didn't expect to get one! But I honestly felt sorry for her with the kids' meals available... baked beans, chips, nuggets etc for every meal. Is this really cheaper and.conducive to recovery? Most kids recognise and will eat other foodstuffs (bolognese, roasts, fruit etc).

I don't think the real argument is money here. Surely it's cheaper to give children a portion of the adult meal rather than to cook something completely different altogether? I imagine the different dietary needs (less salt, less fibre, more fat) can be easily catered for.

I knitted lentils for my DC even though I had had both my hands amputated and was in a coma

Hate these threads, either some people are seriously weird or they are lying. I simply don't believe half of the crap I read on here, surely people really don't compete over food in real life and obsess like that? If so, their kids are going to have major issues with food.

So bogey where would you like the NHS to take money from to pay for better meals? The fact you haven't answered that shows that you have entirely missed the point.

May I suggest they start with staff pensions (nobody gets 50% final salary any more), go via GP salaries (yes, I know they are not as high as the Daily Heil would have us believe, but still a decent wedge for working 3 days a week) and finish somewhere around the 1 million fucking quid the PCT (as was) spent on redecorating the entrance to my local hospital when it became the "Trust Headquarters".

It's idiotic to suggest the money to improve the food must come from patient care.

I have a child who has been an inpatient at all of the regions hospitals many many times. The food choices have been similar to what the OP describes. My child has specific dietary needs and is unable to eat the usual meals but the hospital always do a fantastic job of ordering something suitable for my child to eat.
I am aware that hospitals have very limited budgets for food and I am also aware of the importance of good nutrition in hospitals. It is a touch balancing act for hospitals. I would be happy to see prison food budgets slashed and hospital food budgets increased (prisons get an average £2.10 per meal, compared to a hospital £1 per meal).
However, the care my child receives in hospital is more important to me then the food and I always keep a stock of home cooked single portion meals in the freezer and I have a thermos food flask. If my child is admitted to hospital at a Time when I am unable to get him a suitable meal for the next meal time I will simply get my husband to bring a meal in from home. If my child had a normal diet I would happily get him food from the canteen. The level of nursing care is what I need the most for my child.

Some hospitals do better. The hospital I work in provides much better food than the one DD was treated in. They have the same budget, so that cannot be the only reason. Also, if patients had better, healthier food, it could easily lead to shorter hospital stays in some cases. Given the cost of a bed for the night, it would not surprise me at all if doubling the amount spent on food, so that meals were vaguely palatable and nutritionally balanced, would in fact not cost any extra overall. I don't expect five star, gourmet meals, but if we could get the kids food in hospitals to match the meals she receives in school, I would be very happy.