to think that childrens hospital food should at least be edible?

[ChirpyGirl]

i probably am but i dont care
[scuse no caps, am one handed]
dd1 was in and out of hospital this week and the food available throught came from follwing list;

dinosaur turkey shapes
limp turkey breaded burgers
burnt sausies
some of that tinned pasta in tomato sauce
overcooked [and i mean really overcooked] french beans, cauliflower
dry peas
[only 1 veg each meal]
potato croquettes
smash [i asked]
overcooked boiled new potatoes

pudding was either spotted dick [ew] with custard or low fat yoghurt and the fruit was a few wrinkled apples and wrinkly large oranges

now, i maybe wrong as neither dd is school age, but surely they wouldnt be allowed that in school?

dd1 existed on stuff dh and i took in for her as she refused to eat any of it apart from breakfast [toast and cereal]

All hospital food is shit IMO.
When I had ds, I was offered manky ham sandwiches on white bread, ready salted crisps, and a couple of biscuits when I went on to PN ward as I'd missed dinner, I hadn't eaten all day and was absolutely FAMISHED - lucky had a pack of hobnobs in my bag. Breakfast was burnt toast and cereal, lunch more manky sandwiches. And I nearly didn't get dinner - when I did get it it was mystery meat stew with cement dumplings, reconstituted mash and the most tasteless carrots ever, and some strange thing floating in lumpy custard, that was apparently a stewed plum.
I made DH bring me in a sausage and egg mcmuffin and a hash brown - I actually thought that was more nutritional than the pigswill I was offered at the hospital.
Again thank God I brought the Hob Nobs, dried fruit, apples, satsumas and fudge I had with me!
And they wondered why I was so desperate to get discharged!

I think it's a conspiracy so that you'll take up the bed for as little time as possible.

We've been in and out of hospital for 14 years with dd and frankly I think the food has got worse over the years. I actually go fully prepared to self cater these days (thank the Lord for the availability of a fridge & microwave in the parents' room) On the downside, despite copiuos labels, your food sometimes goes AWOL from the fridge

It's awful and YANBU.

My daughter was in hospital for 2 weeks last year and basically only ate the hospital breakfast. Dinner was mystery meat and grey string beans, which she refused to touch. It was disgusting and it was all loaded with salt.

I ended up going to the very expensive shops nearby to get her nice fruit and bread, because I just wanted her to eat something.

My daughter was in Chelsea & Westminster which has a good reputation for treating gut disorders in children so a lot of the children are on special diets. This is part of their treatment, yet the hospital could not provide appropriate food.

weve always had to buy or arrange to have it brought in when our dc have been in hospital one friend arrived with a steaming plate containing a blended cottge pie and beans lol.

when ive had our children dh brings me a selection of sandwiches and fruits half of which the nurses attempt to buy from me .

hospital food is vile.

thing is, there's every chance that the food was made in a factory in wales and then shipped in... it's absolutely disgusting. and if you complain... don't think that the company rep won't march into your hospital room and quiz you relentlessly, this happened to someone i know.

some hospitals up here are opting out, the one my mum is involved in now has its own kitchens nd gets produce locally, but of course there's not much that cna be done about the logistics of transporting and keeping warm all across the grounds. at least the vitamins are there, however.

my cousin's a geriatric nurse, she said she was sickened by the old people who came in, noone visited so no extra food, and so they lost loads of weight during hospital stays. she believes some long-stayers were actually dying of malnutrition...

My DS was in hospital last year for a week and the food sounds scarily similar. He wasn't eating at the time but I did have hospital dinner once. And then I went to M&S and bought myself ready meals instead. I wasn't ill though - I hate to think that a sick child is relying on that crap to get better

my dh used to deliver vats of beautiful food to certain hospitals that had opted out -huge packets of tender rost beef and freshly prepared salads etc etc sadly none to our local hospitals

Ds2 only got white toast and spaghetti hoops.
Proud mother that I was when he didn't eat the hoops
They couldn't even find him any fruit!

Next visit, no veggie option at all for lunch.

We found hospital food for DS2 to be abysmal.

We too had to take everything in for him.

Just because the food is delivered in a trolley with a Thomas the Tank Engine face, doesn't mean that it is OK to thrust chicken nuggets, chips and beans at the children on a regular basis.

The food should be balanced and of good quality to promote recovery.

The rest of DSs care is so fantastic - all the staff are brilliant - but they get so fed up of the food arriving and being luke-warm, unappealing and unhealthy.

The vegetarian option was chicken nuggets, chips and beans, without the chicken nuggets.

They asked to write and complain about the food. The Chief Executive said they were "looking into" improvements.

That was two years ago.

Nothing has changed.

We were in hospital for 10 days with DD2 in January, and the food wasn't too bad. It was ordered each morning and came up on a trolley individually plated and trayed so she got exactly what she'd ordered. Often there were things on the menu that she couldn't have (she's on a restricted calorie reduced fat diet) so couldn't have chicken nuggets, chips etc, but there was always an alternative. If there was no suitable alternative they did whatever we requested (within reason) eg a grilled chicken breast with boiled potatoes and veg.

She can't have puddings so always got a yohgurt or fruit, which we asked for. And there was always milk or water to drink.

OK it wasn't fantastic food but it was ok, and the catering staff were very accommodating so we were happy.

Thanks for all replies, DH has been hoggin teh computer.
I think I will have to write a letter as it was just awful. I rememebr when I stayed in with DD2 when she was a month old, I got to eat as I was BFing and couldn't face any of it.
I called my mum and when I came home to change I picked up a big bag full of food she had made for me.

DH and I worked out that this hospital stay cost us nearly £50 in buying snacks for him and her and magazines etc for stuff for them to do.
As she was in a barrier room she wasn't allowed in teh playroom but they wouldn't bring her any toys either, so until I went home and packed a bag full of toys she was stuck, on a drip, in a bed with just a telly to watch

There was nowhere for DH to heat food so they both had cold food for 48 hours, he had to go and eat in the restaurant, which he wouldn't as it involved a 10 minute walk there and back and he didn't want to leave DD.

(she is better but is shattered and still having stomach cramps (we think) but she was admitted as she had stopped drinking so was majorly dehydrated)

That is shocking. Dreadful - I was pretty horrified by the quality of the food when I was in hospital after dd was born, but they shouldn't be feeding children that whether they are healthy or sick.

Your poor dd - I hope she feels better soon.

Food seems to vary quite a bit between different hospitals. Appalling in Kent where MIL was in hospital, not too bad in Soton, where dd has been in a couple of times. Not as good as what you'd cook at home, but acceptable.

dd is physically disabled and can't chew. Was in hospital with gastroenteritis. Wouldn't discharge until she was eating again. Refused to allow me to puree food or reheat food on ward. Lunch was cold food only and whilst one nurse had phoned kitchen for special diet nurse on duty at lunch time refused to allow dd to have it! Then when purees did start coming in they weren't the ones we'd ordered - ordered (from a list) cauliflour cheese then fish pie. Ended up with spicy goulash and curry. She had gastroenteritis! And could have been veggie; they just didn't care.

Did complain. Had apology from head nurse on ward. Had kitchen manager turn up and talk things through too - ended up being offered tickets for free meal at main canteen which was ok except 10 minutes walk from ward meaning had to leave dd alone for 30 mins minimum to get her meal - not ideal when hospital also had no padded cot sides so leaving her in bed was leaving her at serious risk of self-injury.

When I was in hospital having dd2 recently the veggie option was boil in the bag cod. Yum

You mean they offered a veggie option that wasn't even vegetarian?

Yep. As it happens I do occasionally eat fish (I just say vegetarian when asked rather than confusing poor overworked NHS staff...) so not a huge problem for me. Except that it was disgusting.

But that was definitely offered to me as the 'vegetarian choice'. In 2008

DS3 was in for a few days last summer. He was 7 m at the time so mostly just having breastmilk anyway but the baby menu was dreadful. One day the baby choice was "pureed beef". Who the hell gives that to their baby?

Luckily I was doin BLW with him so I manged to chose a few things like egg salad and boiled potatoes but I was really shocked at the choice (and they didn't feed me at all - even though I was still breastfeeding pretty much constantly )

MY brain is atrophying at the moment as DD" now has a separate stomach virus, but I am going to write to them to complain about this, since DD1 got out of hospital she has been eating me out of house and home so she was obviously hungry in there but just refused to eat whatever DH got from the 'buffet' and now I have a child constantly asking for biscuits and snacks as that is all she ate for 2 days.

Sorry, so I meant to say (see told you brain was atrophying) anyone fancy helping me with a letter?