Hospital food: AIBU?

[IrenetheQuaint]

My 75-year-old father is in hospital - one of the best hospitals in the country - with unexplained breathing difficulties. He is not at all fussy and will generally eat anything put in front of him... but he finds the hospital food disgusting to the point of being almost inedible. I was briefly in the same hospital 15 years ago and found the same thing.

There are a few shops and cafes in the entrance bit but he is on oxygen and can't get to them. Fortunately my brother lives nearby and has managed to bring him some food in (I live 2 hours away and have a stinking cold so can't get there myself). But what about people who have no families nearby, or who can't afford to go to M&S etc two or three times a day?

How can the medical care be so good but the food so bad? If airlines can supply basic but perfectly edible food in complicated circumstances then why can't hospitals?? Good healthy food is an essential part of recovery from illness... it's appalling that the NHS can't supply this (or at least, not at this large and internationally respected hospital).

I know it costs money, but couldn't they bring in a scheme where patients contributed to food costs, with subsidies for those who can't afford it. Even a voluntary donation of £5 per person per day would surely enable a massive improvement in the service? I can't believe other Western countries are so rubbish in this respect?

[RockyTop]

I was in hospital for a week after having DS, the food was dreadful. Half the time I didn't get anything as DS was in NICU so I missed mealtimes. When I did get it the food was practically inedible. I pretty much lived on 2 slices of toast (breakfast) a day. I'm a type 2 diabetic too so hardly ideal.

[IrenetheQuaint]

I'm baffled that some hospitals can't provide meals for coeliacs/diabetics or even vegetarians - none of these are exactly weird unheard-of diets.

It would be really interesting to hear what hospitals that provide decent food do differently from those that provide horrible food. Presumably their budgets are pretty similar.

[Oldraver]

The food when I had DS (nearly 11) wasn't too bad but very stodgy...and someone kept pinching my portion of cheese (as a pudding) as they thought the portion too small yea so nick someone elses. But it wa svery stodgy and after two weeks I just craves fresh vegetables.

When DS was in SCBU we were not allowed to have a microwave in the parents room so had to have canteen stodge

[Sadik]

Wales here too (I wonder if the same area as Elvira ) - DM was in hospital lately and spoke very well of the food. They also brought round horlicks in the evening ! Funding issues are a big problem here as everywhere, but it obviously can be done.

[maddiemookins16mum]

With my mum, we needed to fill a form. I honestly think with "older" patients, they should just serve them....a lovely bowl of hot home made soup. My mum was so confused half the time she "chose" (obviously helped by caring HcA), curry and rice, rhubarb crumble etc. She ate nothing. But craved hot toast and butter. I know it's not an a la carte restaurant, but she never ate.

[5foot5]

I think it really must vary from place to place. I have had a couple of stays in our local District General and I was quite pleasantly surprised by the food. Also by other things which differed from the grim picture you sometimes get in the news about the NHS. E.g. the ward seemed very clean and there was a member of staff spending a lot of time calming a confused and distressed elderly lady and gently and patiently feeding her lunch.

My mum was also In a different, much larger, hospital and once again the food appeared to be quite decent and there was a good choice

[Christmassnake]

Paying £5 a day towards food,wouldn't be a tax on the sick....everyone has to eat ...people would still be paying for their food if they weren't in hospital...it might even open up more choices...like blue water or lakeside shopping centres where there is lots of food places together,people could place their orders and get it delivered.....I'm really over thinking this..can you tell I've not had dinner🙄

[MommaGee]

We were in for 4 months with our son, we really couldn't have afforded £5 per day for his food and not sure how you'd prove that in order to not pay it...

In my local hospital the food is basic but edible. They take orders at the start of the day for lunch and dinner so there's less waste. The other local hospital has a hot plate and you take your luck with whats left when you get there. THey do an amazing pasta thing with ham in that i still remeber from when I was breastfeeding and as such fed on the kids ward

[thatwhichwecallarose]

I don't understand the comparison with airlines. They feed 200 odd people who are quite close to the mircowave/oven. Hospitals serve up to 1000 people all spread out over a large footprint. Not exactly difficult wonder why one is better than the other.

I don't mind the quality of most hospital food but it's just too inflexible. They can't cater for diabetics for example, so they go without rather than have healthier replacements.

[Christmassnake]

So I wonder just how much money is spent on food per person in hospital....and much the average family spends on food per person per day

[Wolpertinger]

It varies. The hospital I work at made a big thing of still having their own kitchen and chef. Staff loved the new menus. The predominently elderly patients rejected his innovations such as salad with rocket instead of iceberg lettuce and adding spices to stuff. Menus got changed back to what they would eat.

While at my other workplace (also healthcare)we invariably get feedback from patients that the food is superb - I had the misfortune to eat it the other day for our Christmas dinner. Veg that had been boiled for hours, undercooked roasties, watery soup. Yet the patients love it

My conclusion is it's actually v hard to do hospital food for the range of palates involved, then throw in special diets, then evveryone's taste buds being off due to illness, all the food having to travel from the kitchen to the ward getting cold plus a very strict budget and it's a miracle any of it is edible at all.

[Me624]

I was pleasantly surprised by the food I had during my 2 night stay when I had DS earlier this year. I'm vegetarian and I had plenty of choice, it tasted fine if not amazing, and choice over whether you wanted a small, medium or large meal (large came with extra sides etc)

The only downside was that the people who bring it round returned very quickly to try and take your tray away again. Fine if you are able bodied and can feed yourself, but what about elderly people who need feeding? I had to be quite firm with them that I hadn't had a chance to eat yet (desperately struggling with breastfeeding and was constantly either feeding - for which you need both hands on day 1 with your firstborn! - or had midwives with me helping me to hand express colostrum) and they weren't to take it away! I can imagine if you were sleeping or waiting to be helped and not a forceful personality it would have been taken away untouched.

[annandale]

Absolutely agree Wolpertinger. Medication changes can often play havoc with taste as well, never mind specific stuff like surgery or radiotherapy to the mouth.

[Tabymoomoo]

I've just come out of hospital and was in for 9 days and I have to say was quite impressed by the food!
I had juice, cereal or porridge and fresh croissant for breakfast, soup and sandwich or pasta or jacket potato for lunch and a hot dinner - pie or omelette or lasagne or similar. There was always lots of choice and the food tasted fine if a bit bland but there were salt and pepper sachets. It wasn't restaurant quality but considering I was getting fed for free I was pretty happy with it. Definitely better than aeroplane food I've had!

[123MothergotafleA]

It's a strategy to get people to leave hospital quickly.

[lorelairoryemily]

I was in hospital in April for a week, (after having ds) food was savage!! I missed it when I got home!!

[DoYouRememberJustinBobby]

I've spent 73 nights in hospital this year. Every single meal they served me looked like it had already been through another human being. I'm not the fussiest of eaters either. A jacket potato or a tuna sandwich would be easily done but everything was limp war time looking food. Any vegetables had had all of the nutrients boiled out of them.
They only had fruit on Sundays and wrote "non compliant" on my notes 4-5 times a day for not drinking tea.

[SprogletsMum]

When I was in after having my last dc I just had their lunch boxes. Packaged sandwich, piece of fruit, yogurt and juice. The cooked meals looked vile and are brought in ready cooked from 60ish miles away.
Charging £5 a day would mean I wouldn't be able to eat in hospital. My food budget is nowhere near £5 per person per day, more like £2 per person per day.

[identityhidden]

YANBU it's bloody disgusting.

I was in for 2 and a half days - first night they gave me one slice of toast, second day I got 1 slice of toast, 7 chips, slice of fried fish and lettuce, then a baked potato and a yoghurt pot of coleslaw. My friend came in and helped me to the shop to buy drinks, sandwiches and some snacks.

Third day I got 2 slices of toast, because I asked, and then the most disgusting mince I've ever had.

I was dehydrated on admission having not eaten or drunk more than 1 slice of toast 50mls of water for a good 20 hours .. i didn't start feeling better until well into the second day and sure thats to do with the food or lack of.

[Graphista]

Currently on a ward (in a large new hospital) with dd where almost all the patients (clear from the nature of the ward) likely need a certain type of food available - it's not. Menu im thinking the same throughout the hospital (website been down for days do can't check) and very limited. Yet my dd and others being criticised for not eating enough!

Hospital food is woefully poor quality and poorly organised/thought through.

20+ years ago I saw from a staff perspective it's definitely become worse.

[ivykaty44]

My father was in hospital in May, he's around the same age. He ate everything served. I went into A&E recently and was kept in for the day, served food and it was fine, I was given a choice if two meals. I was in earlier this year for surgery and was kept in again for three days, food was fine.

Tbh I eat a lot more fibre at home, vegetables but it was a fairly good menu as long as you don't choice the sugary puddings and opt for the fruit.

[StStrattersOfMN]

They don't provide for allergies either, eating in hospital is a minefield, and I've already had an anaphylactic episode whilst in due to being given the wrong food

[HollaHolla]

I was recently in a private hospital for 5 days. The food was one of the things which made it more comfortable. At least I got something I could eat because I ordered each day.
I guess that additional cost can't be borne in the Nhs.

[PinkSwimGoggles]

It's a strategy to get people to leave hospital quickly.

how fucking great for people who are too ill to leave.