Hospital food

[EllaSW]

Has anyone ever tried to tackle the quality of hospital food (Jamie Oliver style)? It doesn’t need to be perfect but my goodness it’s diabolical. How do they expect patients who are attempting to recover to do well on the crap they’re fed?

It is diabolical. It was a while back but when I had my children by section I remember breakfast was cheap white bread (not even toast) butter and jam. After two days (my DD was in NICU) I asked if they had any fruit and they came up with tinned peaches! I felt I had gone back to the 1950s! My DH would come in with sandwich and carrot stick snack he’d pick up at M&S after work as the only palatable thing to eat.
Considering how the NHS bangs on about healthy eating they could start with their own institutions.

The hospital food was pretty bad the last few times I was a patient, although I didn’t have much appetite so the unappetising food didn’t bother me too much.

The interesting thing though, is that the food in the hospital canteen has always been pretty decent, and they do the catering for the patients too (at least in the hospital I was in).

So I think it must be something to do with the transit between the canteen and the patients that’s the main problem.

I couldn’t figure why I wasn’t getting any vegetables when I was in. When they came round to ask what you would like I discovered you had to opt into them! The person with the iPad didn’t give me the option until I physically asked.
I found the food to be high carb, low protein beige food generally. The exact opposite of what is needed for good healing.

I had a brief stay a few months ago. There was no lunch served the first day. Dinner was pasta bolognaise with frozen peas. It was fine but not sure where the rest of it was and I don't eat huge meals. Following morning no breakfast. Lunch was a choice of Mac and cheese or fish and chips as was a Friday. I went from r the fish and chips. There were 5 chips, maybe two teaspoons of mushrooms peas and the fish wasn't fish. It was a kind of paste inside some kind of greasy encasing. I was out of there by tea time luckily. Yeah, it's not good,

That makes sense because some patients will need to be on a low residue diet

That’s probably because the canteen has a higher budget given they charge for the food and the ward food isn’t paid for?

The ice cream sundaes are wonderful 😍😄

Does anyone know what an average NHS hospital pays the catering company/ies that supply it and whether the food is actually inexpensive (or whether they’re just being fleeced)? Of course the NHS is strapped for cash and of course it’s not going to be gourmet but it shouldn’t be unrealistic to expect a balanced healthy-ish basic meal that isn’t actively bad for your recovery. I’m fortunate and not here long-term but many of the other patients I’ve met here are and they should be able to expect better than the sludge being served. Somehow even the jacket potatoes are inedible and the breakfast menu is pure sugar.

@SpicysirrachaInedible. I’m not a foodie and would be very happy with a sandwich and salad or a jacket potato and veg. I ordered pasta and cheese thinking that you can’t go wrong with that and it was inedible!

I imagine this is going to be very different across nhs boards and hospitals.

Unfortunately my dad has had to be in hospital a lot over the last few years. My brother also works in hospital kitchens. This is in the west of Scotland and the experience has been good. Nothing is “bought in” where my brother works. Down to the soups and afternoon cakes, they make everything from scratch. He does say that there is quite a lot of repetition. For example, beef stew and steak pie and similar could all appear in the same week due to casserole/ stewing steak being an economical cut.

This was in a GI surgical ward where nutrition and healthy food extremely important

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/national-standards-for-healthcare-food-and-drink/

nhs trusts set their own budgets for patient feeding. It can vary wildly and there will be an allocated budget depending on diet as well. Some will be heavily specialised and expensive, others will be cheaper.

often foods suffer from being kept in hot trolleys and the transit between where it was produced, heated, delivered to and served.

Two weeks in Southmead Hospital Bristol. Decent curries.

A couple of relatives have been in Stoke Mandeville. The food looked pretty uninviting. Hot meals seemed to be microwaved on the ward. I gather the beef stew was OK, didn't hear good feedback about anything else, I don't think they tried the Jacket Potato, that was on a different page of the menu, so they were not reminded of the option when looking at the food. Ordering and lunch were both before visiting hours so no opportunity to help with their choices. At tea time the soup looked thin and oily and I am told did not taste good (also not great to eat when in a semi-reclined position in bed). The sandwiches looked uninspiring and relative would not even try it. The salads looked OK, but low quality and with a huge blob of coleslaw that looked like it was very lacking in any veg. Was not at all tempting for my relative, I took to taking in sandwiches for them.

When I was in 2 years ago it was absolutely vile. I did try a shepherds/cottage pie but otherwise relatives brought in food for me. And I liked the ice cream and cake. The cereal and toast was fine. As are the sandwiches.

Exactly high carb low protein beige food from my recollection. I honestly felt sick if I ate the meals.

My vegan son was in hospital with stomach and bowel problems and they gave him ham omelette and salad (which he was not allowed to eat) and rang me to take him some food as he didn't get breakfast and was now well after lunch time. Everyday for a week I travelled to the hospital to take his daily meals which really wasn't acceptable but nobody was bothered.

St George’s Tooting? They’re having a laugh! My dd was there for a night a couple of years ago she had grey cauliflower, sweet and sour congealed chicken and cold stuck together rice!

Better than the emergency admission food I had there 25 years ago there which was basic white bread processed cheese sandwich with process cheese in plastic wrapping on a paper plate.

I was in an NHS hospital for a transplant recently and the food was amazing. A restaurant sized menu with literally about 50 options to choose from for 3 meals per day. All fruit and veg available and every meal was nutritious and balanced..

If still there… post a pic of dinner tonight!!

This is true, i saw an article about hospital food in Scotland and it looked pretty decent (no idea how widespread this is though). Some of the hospital food I've seen in England is awful, the meals should at least be nutritionally balanced?

I guess it varies. A friend of mine recently spent about 8 weeks in hospital following an illness, and she found it quite nice. I gave birth at the same hospital she was at and had to stay in two nights and also found it pretty good.

My mum is in at the moment and I’d say the food is ok, considering how many people they are feeding and how cash strapped the NHS is. She’s learning what she likes and what she doesn’t. The ham sandwich on plastic white bread with no butter was a low point, but the puddings are good - treacle sponge and custard 😋. I take in fruit and extra snacks that she fancies, but then she’s 93 and has a tiny appetite - the portions would be small for me.

Depends which hospital, BRI and Southmead in Bristol are pretty good.

I’ve been in for 6 weeks, know the weekly menu by heart. This was lunch today they gave me two ice creams as it looked (and tasted) rubbish. I’ve given up with breakfast and go to the canteen and get a bacon or bacon and egg sandwich. The portion of ready brek or cornflakes is teeny and the toast is cold as hard and inedible.

Tonights meal is chicken breast, boiled pots and sweetcorn. From experience, the chicken will be like rubber and there will be 3 tiny potato halves.

Last Nights was lentil curry that was actually tasty, they’d be far better cooking meals like curry chilli, stew etc that doesn’t dry out before it’s gets to the ward.

some days we get soup- depends how much they send up as it’s not enough for the whole ward. It’s is homemade and decent - otherwise it gets subbed with a juice box.

if you need a special diet, the meals are from Wiltshire Farm foods and pretty decent- I got away with it for a week before the ward checked with my consultant - he’s know me for 10 years and I got demoted to the normal menu 🤣

I was once on the antenatal ward for 6 weeks and the postnatal ward for one week. My best food tip for hospitals is to ask for any of the ethnic menus - West Indian ones are particularly good!!!