Why do so many PP say “their dietary needs were not met”, “no food or drink was provided”. Unless you have gone in from the street unconscious by ambulance, most people can fill a bottle with water and grab some food...
I'm not talking about not being offered food, or not being offered my favourite food...
In my case I was ambulanced in at 3am, the crew did not have time to wait whilst a picnic to last 12 hours was packed, my partner was busy ensuring I had the info I needed, meds, charged phone etc.
Providing a days worth of food for a diabetic, out of hand-bag ready snacks, is not quite as easy as you appear to think. A hospital should be able to cater for medical dietary requirements.
Yesterday I was offered:
Rice Krispies, Cornflakes, Toast or Muller Yoghurt. All of which are inappropriate for a type 2 insulin dependent.
When I asked for diabetic appropriate I was told 'well we could just not put sugar on the cereal'.
I went for the yoghurt as at least I could calculate the sugar and carbs in that.
At lunch I was given the only vegetarian option - 'cheese potato bake' which turned out to contain very little cheese, and in fact be partly cooked diced potato, peas and a scoop of mash (yes, I haven't made a mistake. Potatoes served with more potatoes). I ate some of the peas.
There was no fruit, I was offered icecream or jelly (not sugar free). All of this came with no nutritional info so again impossible to calculate carbs/sugars.
Then I ended up having a hypo having been on the verge of one all day (I had mentioned this multiple times and they had charted my BG dropping from 7ish on admission to low 4's late morning... so they were aware.
On finding someone to tell them I was hypo-ing, I was told 'oh the sandwich trolly will be round in a bit'... 'in a bit' in a&e speak means 'anywhere from 5 minutes to 5 hours'.
I had my own glucose tabs but you can't fix a hypo with just that, I was just REALLY lucky that by this point my OH had arrived with my chair, or the outcome could have been very different! He had to walk half way round the hospital to find the trolly and get a sandwich!
Without him, I was stuck in a bed I cannot get out of, can barely change position in, in a side room with no alert bell to press, no view of the corridor either so no way to yell at passing people and no one glancing in as they pass.
So yes I think hospitals should be able to meet dietary needs! Sick of being told 'oh its easy to manage a sensible diet with your medical issues' and then told a hospital cannot manage it!