To expect that a hospital should be able to meet my dietary needs?

[Balloonsandroses]

Pretty sure I’m not being unreasonable! Been in hospital 24 hours now and just been to eat a meal for the first time (my choice). There is nothing gluten free. I have coeliac disease which they’ve known since admission. Gluten makes me vomit. So I can literally eat pepper, cucumber and lettuce. To add insult to injury this is a psych ward and I was admitted under section (still furious about this) so I can’t even leave and go and buy some food.

I was diabetic and didn't get a diabetic meal, I just managed. Understand OP has some mental issues so that might be causing extra stress. Fair enough. I just wonder how many things they'd have to cater to, diabetic, vegetarian, vegan, coeliac, gluten free etc etc I wonder if that's even possible

If you were in prison and this happened you'd have a lawyer raising hell about your human rights and demanding compensation. It's well known that hospitals spend less on patients' food than prisons do on prisoners' and has been the case for over 40 years.
Worse is the administration of drugs completely against the instructions on the pack. I've a thyroid problem. You have to wait 30 mins after medication before food, or it doesn't get absorbed properly. Waste of money. Got bollocked for pointing it out, and discharged myself after 4 days having developed shingles which weren't treated. This was in France !

Absolutely the menu should be vegetarian / vegan in the main in hospitals. It would be cheaper for the NHS and fewer worries re storage and the religious aspects of meat eating.

That makes so much sense. Meals that nearly everyone could eat. Those on daft, faddy meat eating diets could always order in to supplement their meals if they didn't like it

I know ppl who would be horrified & very upset about being given a vegan/vegtn diet in hospital.

Often you can find foods in alternative packaging - Heinz baked beans are gf and can be bought in plastic "snap pots"
www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/food-cupboard-essentials/heinz-baked-beans-snap-pots-4-pack-800g

Likewise New Covent Garden soups come in tetrapaks (but do need refrigeration) and at least some flavours appear to be gf
www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/new-covent-garden-wild-mushroom-soup-600g

This risotto is pretty nice and doesn't need a fridge, nor is it in a tin, and it appears gf (they do other flavours too)
www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/311276140

I haven't cross checked them for all your MAOI restrictions but hopefully it's some ideas for you that only need a microwave and don't involve a tin.

I know ppl who would be horrified & very upset about being given a vegan/vegtn diet in hospital.

"Horrified" ...oh no! How would they ever get over it?!

Do they never eat a cheese sandwich out of sheer principle?? Beans on toast? A portion of chips?? A banana?? Must be tough for them

I’m sorry you’re having a hard time @Balloonsandroses. And I hope they get food sorted for you for tomorrow.

I had to be induced unexpectedly when I was pregnant in 2020. I was kept in at a routine check up so had nothing with me and DH wasn’t allowed into the hospital because of the lockdowns. I’m lactose intolerant and they had nothing at all that I could eat!! Couldn’t give me a sandwich with no butter, a plain baked potato, plain toast 😳 I asked for a slice of plain toast and they brought me it buttered 😔 I was in for almost 40 hours before being moved to the delivery suite and my DH was allowed to join me. He brought be food and then I wasn’t allowed to eat 🙄😬 I was then there for a further 17 hours before giving birth and being allowed to eat 😔
After being moved back onto the ward and DH being sent home, they again had nothing that I could eat. I was trying to breastfeed after having one sandwich and a couple of cereal bars in 3 days. And I wasn’t allowed any visitors. I ended up having to discharge myself and my baby because I actually felt so ill!

'It's a hospital, not a hotel'.

Correct. I'd be at a hotel by choice. I would think the majority of individuals do not choose to be admitted to hospital.

It's not difficult to cater to all diets. As a vegan, I'd hardly expect a 3 course meal, but a jacket potato with beans, and a bit of dairy free butter isn't too much of an ask.

If you are allergic to a certain food, I think it is shocking it is difficult to get a meal in a bloody hospital.

YADNBU OP, and I hope you get something decent to eat shortly.

Have they put you on an Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors because they have tried all other options?

Sorry as I genuinely don't know, but can't anyone eat fruit or vegetables, so can't you just get two or three meals and pick these bits out??

Schools manage, often by using a framework contract via a central purchasing organisation. These frameworks are set up to cover this kind of thing, and are also open to hospitals to use. They can make sure kids have food appropriate to their dietary requirements.

But many hospitals and trusts (and NHS central commissioning units) are just going for cheapest bids, while at the same time not properly holding the contractors to account.

In my hospital trust we cater for anyone gluten free, if you order off the 'standard menu' then items with a 'G' are gluten free such as jacket potatoes or we use a card to change the menu totally 'Gluten free' and you can get plain chicken breast with vegetables for example.
We can also order gluten free bread, biscuits, cakes & various milks from the kitchen.

My advice is I think you need to find out who the auxiliary nurses / healthcare support workers are.

They will be the ones who will have the knowledge about how to sort out your menu choices, not the staff nurses.

If a relative can bring anything in then that's helpful but bear in mind that in many hospitals they are not allowed to heat up food or keep food in the ward fridge for you for new food hygiene guidance reasons.

I'm allergic to a medication called sulfa. I'm so allergic the pharmacy has to check my scripts to make sure that any medication I get was not even produced in the same factory/lab. If they don't I know because I'll be covered in hives and vomiting for the next two weeks. Celiacs are very similar. So no she can't just pick the bits out. She will get sick from even touching it.

Hi OP

This is terrible. I don’t have coeliac disease but I’ve been sectioned a few times for depression and also take MAOIs. I know it’s not the point of the thread but wanted to say that if you don’t feel you should be under section I would recommend speaking to a mental health act advocate. I really hope you feel better soon.

If they've been part of a meal touching gluten containing items (e.g. anything containing wheat flour - which can be anything from bread crumbs to pasta to sauces thickened with flour) then they would be dangerous for the OP to eat, and it would cause both short and long term damage to her body.

What you've described would be about the worst case of cross contamination imaginable.

@Nicecow nothing to do with mental issues (except it means I don’t care that much about not eating tonight). I could have had a dinner consisting of:
pepper
cucumber
lettuce

and there wasn’t much of any of those either. How do you just cope with that?

The hospital are unlikely to give one person multiple meals at each sitting, the fruit/veg would also be contaminated.

It’s not ‘unusual’ foods at all. It’s mature cheeses, red wine, certain beers, marmite, many processed meats, anything fermented, pickled, hung. Soy sauce, anything containing soy sauce, dried fruit, overripe fruit, pseudoephedrine (Sudafed), certain cough medicines.

Why do people say this stuff when they don’t have a clue what they’re talking about?

Hospital food is so poor, and has been for so long

In 2010 my sister was hospitalised with eating disorder related issues (the same eating disorder which sadly ended her life), and the 'food' they served was shocking. Sloppy, stodgy, very un-heart healthy.
I hope you have someone to bring in things for you, and that you're on the mend soon.

How long have you been sectioned for? Did a family member press for this? Sounds like it's going to make you worse. When my relative was very unwell we thought she should be sectioned, realised despite how bad she was that it would be unlikely and also thought that she would get less care in a psych ward and be more at risk.

I think I'd be fine tbh, but I dont have a huge appetite all the time and I'm cynical too, so wouldn't have expected much (and haven't from my own hospital visits and visiting other people, I always take them food because it is so foul).
Hopefully if you've let them know they can sort you out tomorrow or someone else can bring you something. Is there anyway you could ask another patient or visitor to get you something (although I'm guessing not by where you are).
I hope you get better soon.

As a fellow coeliac I send you all the support.

It wouldn’t be so bad if this was a planned admission with visitors possible. Hearing how bad it can be, I think if I was GF I’d try to have some cupboardy/long life food at home I could grab if there was a risk of admission to hospital. It is appalling that you’re there under section and there’s nothing to eat. Is there anyone DH can ask to bring you food? Or to mind the kids so he can do it?

@WeepingSomnambulist do you have any idea about coeliac disease. It's called a disease for a reason. Gluten attacks her body and means she can't absorb nutrients but much more than that she is not exaggerating when she says she will vomit violently and probably have diahrea and feel dreadful if she eats gluten. It isn't like an intolerance.

Coeliac disease is not an intolerance, it is an autoimmune disorder.
Eating even a tiny crumb of gluten, or food that has been cooked in oil that has previously had gluten containing food in, or cross contamination from surfaces or knives/serving implements etc will cause the body to have a whole body auto immune reaction.
Repeated gluten exposure results in cancer.
An intolerance means someone might get a stomach upset if they eat something. Very different to what happens to a Coeliac.

www.coeliac.org.uk/information-and-support/coeliac-disease/coeliac-disease-faqs/