My local hospital have always been pretty abysmal at feeding me (things not helped by bullying culture - of patients - amongst staff on ward I had misfortune to have multiple admissions on: so in food terms, things like refusing to contact dietitian; refusing to contact catering about missing meals; refusing to confirm my ongoing admission [so no more food was bought, so I had no protein with my meals when recovering from my second major surgery within a fortnight...]; deliberately ordering me food I was unable to eat; haranguing me about my vegetarianism...) but I'm hoping that they've improved in the last 5 years or so since I last experienced their, er, hospitality. Am now clutching at all the wood within reach. Hello Fate, no, no, no tempting of you here. It's a big (Inner) London teaching hospital in an area with a diverse population, so no idea how/why they struggle so much with the idea of a range of menus &/or just ensuring that dietitian-set menus are done properly 
Hospital Trust that manages most of my care (also local, just not walking-distance!) is so SO much better. They do struggle a bit if I come in as an emergency or even if I've not been there in the morning to make my choices for the day, but they work something out. Generally they'll make me some toast with jam & provide me with some fruit on the ward if I appear outside mealtimes/when there's no way to get anything else. Depending on the time of day, they'll try to get catering to send up vegan meals for the next meals of the day; & if I'll be in for more than a day or two there are other concerns (there usually are just because I'm underweight due to GI issues) they'll contact the dietitians & one of them will come & see me to create a meal-plan for my admission. That means basically means creating a week-long menu, using everything the hospital kitchens have available that I can eat. I have occasionally ended up with some random things despite the meal plan though - apparently there are a few catering staff who get overwhelmed by the urge to freestyle it. And/or think every meal is Wednesday lunchtime. TBF they do also have times things run out - sometimes they'll just leave it; & sometimes someone Takes The Initiative & looks at the plan to see what else I can have & will swap something in. I'm also allowed to bring in dairy-free margarine - that I'll have to label with my name, the ward name, & my bed number - & they'll keep it in the ward fridge for me.
The latter hospital have multiple menus available - there are vegetarian options on the standard menu; there's a soft foods menu (which is what the PP whose DD was under maxfacs should have been given, there are so SO many patients who are soft foods only that it's a hospital basic - I really hope you complained @CormoranStrike); a vegan menu; a halal menu; a kosher menu... I just went to look, and the Trust's new policy is that meals are now chosen no sooner than 2 hours before mealtimes. (Obviously that won't work if you have to have a meal plan, but...) Actually, the update means they've changed a few things since I spent vastly too much of 2015 there again, no tempting Fate, look, planned admission coming, will try it then, see & it looks really good. (Still can't quite believe I've had 2.5y with only OP hospital care. So. Much. The. Best. Thing.). Am sure there will still be times people end up with weird random meals. But hopefully it'll happen less...