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A segment today on BBC TV news re hospital food. Having spent one night in hospital in my life and being fed by my Mother, I suppose, I have no real knowledge of hospital food on a plate. The point being made was that, in many cases it ranged from poor to inedible. Bearing in mind that people spend some money at home on feeding themselves it wouldn't seem a bad idea to make a contribution in hospital to improve the food. I think this would fall flat on its face as the NHS would create such a bureacracy to administer the scheme that it would cost more to run than it would collect. The point was also made that poor food is tolerable for for a short stay but the man commenting had been in hospital for over 6 weeks and hadn't been offered anything appetising or nourishing in the whole time he was in
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You would have thought the provision of good food would be an investment. Wouldn't patients get well sooner on decent food, so free up those valuable beds?
Half-starving them so that they succumb to hospital infections sounds a typically short-sighted policy.
Then they could turn the heating down and open a few windows.
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I think there is some programme in the pipeline - no doubt another advertorial by the Beeb, by placing it in a news-segment.
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Sounds like a job for Jamie Oliver.
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Sounds like a job for any good Mother.
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>> I think there is some programme in the pipeline
The Truth About Hospital Food is on Channel 4 tonight at 8pm.
review here tinyurl.com/5rqrh4q
(sorry, another DailyMail link).
Last edited by: John H on Mon 21 Feb 11 at 10:46
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Haha thanks John - BBC not promoting it then !
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>> The Truth About Hospital Food is on Channel 4 tonight at 8pm.
p.s. to Iffy - capitalisation above is from the Daily Mail.
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PS to John H, it's the title of a film/programme, so all words except conjunctions would be capped.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Where Eagles Dare, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers etc, etc.
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Men Behaving Badly etc etc! >:)
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In defence of hospital food (not that I've ever had to endure it) it's not quite as straightforward as most might think.
Sure, you've got your standard fare, but there are also special diets to be catered for; apart from vegetarian, halal, kosher and other "social" preferences, there are also gluten-free, dairy-free and high-protein meals etc. to be considered, all of which have to be dealt with often at fairly short notice. It goes without saying that the bigger the hospital, the more difficult the logistics of this become. Since the catering is more often than not outsourced to a private contractor, profit margins also have to be taken into consideration.
I'm not defending bad food BTW, no excuse for it, just pointing out a few things from the other side; an old friend of mine was head chef at Nottingham City Hospital and I learned a fair bit from him.
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>> It goes without saying that the bigger the hospital, the
>> more difficult the logistics of this become.
>>
>>
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So a bit like running a large restaurant then? You have no idea how many customers there will be, they might have all sorts of religious and dietary requirements, and they will all expect a choice of up to a dozen different items on the menu.
I don't think many customers would be content with having to order spam, mashed potato, tinned peaches and custard a week in advance.
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>> So a bit like running a large restaurant then? You have no idea how many
>> customers there will be, >> I don't think many customers would be content with having to order spam, mashed potato,
>> tinned peaches and custard a week in advance.
An enticing comparison but one that I'm not sure holds water. Hospital meals are expected to be served in batches, at least ward sized if not much larger. Arranging conference dinners etc for parties of 15 to 20 London hotels will want choices well in advance. And the cost per head will be 10x the patient meal budget in a hospital.
There are reasons why fast food emporia offer a limited choice. IMHO the original Harry Ramsden's was never the same after it expanded choice beyond three varieties of fish.
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Actually planning hospital food should be one of the easier ones.
You know your total number of covers, and your average occupancy rate. Dietary requirements will be laid down by medical policy, which is known before hand.
Piece of cake
or whatever you have for pudding this week.
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>> PS to John H, it's the title of a film/programme, so all words except conjunctions
>> would be capped.
>>
I know, but you I thought I would write a p.s. just in case you have moved on to a contemporary version of English where that usage is not acceptable. ;-)
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... just in case you have moved on to a contemporary version of English where that usage is not acceptable. ;-)...
I never thought of myself as modern, particularly when it comes to use of English.
I rather like it.
In future, I shall preface my little homilies with: "Contemporary usage indicates...."
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What about when Harry does Sally?
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People won't get better if you feed them inedible muck which is what they get. Basically school dinners on the cheap from the likes of Sodexo. Ones for North staffs are driven in from North Wales. Poor food is not tolerable at all and it explains why many patients are coming out of hospital with nutritional deficiencies which they did not have when they want in. It's disgraceful!
Seeing as we all pay taxes for the NHS provision of reasonable food is essential. And they do take money for it. Pensioners have some of their pension taken off them if they're in for more than so long.
Patients locally send out for take aways because the food is so bad.
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If you are going to be ill, make sure you are admitted to the superbly run and managed Liverpool Chest and Heart Hospital!
The food is freshly cooked within some 20 to 30 minutes of being ordered and is genuinely top quality.
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When I used to go on Scout 'Dads and lads' camps some years ago with my stepsons, the cooking was done by a dad who ran the catering at Reading's Battle hospital (which no longer exists). It was excellent.
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BTW sorry, can't resist: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYVEGp5xPo8
One of my favourites.
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...One of my favourites...
The song jogs along in an inoffensive sort of way.
Why can't the lad play stuff like that?
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>> Why can't the lad play stuff like that?
He can [sigh again] - the piece he played for his GCSE music was 'conventional' and easy on the ear, in the way his Sylosis stuff isn't, not to you and me anyway. Got top grade for it, which he was pleased about because his music teacher had predicted a low one (they didn't quite see eye to eye).
BTW you might want to avoid York tomorrow evening iffy - they're currently headlining the Metal Hammer Razor tour, and that's where they'll be :)
Last edited by: Focus on Mon 21 Feb 11 at 12:37
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...they're currently headlining the Metal Hammer Razor tour...
Is that all the gear and them in the back of a knackered Transit, or something more glamorous?
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>> Is that all the gear and them in the back of a knackered Transit, or
>> something more glamorous?
Not a Transit I don't think but not glamorous - I know before the tour started they were asking fans for accommodation. Not quite the Big Time yet.
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...Not quite the Big Time yet....
Fair play to the lad, he's a genuine musician, out there, playing.
I've a lot more time for the likes of him than I have for the karaoke singers on Pop Idol.
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When I had a short stay in hospital a few years ago the food was good. Not only was there a choice of main courses, but you could have all of the main courses on offer. Unfortunately I didn't find out the latter fact until it was too late and I was ready for discharge.
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"Not only was there a choice of main courses, but you could have all of the main courses on offer."
Do you mean that when asked whether you wanted a or b or c you could give the classic answer "yes"?
John
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>>Not only was there a choice of main courses, but you could have all of the main courses on offer.
Unlike my experience a few years ago. The food was very good, but there was not enough of it. Three main courses would have gone down very well.
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When I worked in a 20 bed hospital, until a few weeks ago, I used to be around when the evening meal was served. It looked warm and palatable, typically thick soup, cottage pie with veg and a yoghurt or some trifle. In polite response to Clk Sec I think it is taken into account that people in bed most of the day (if they are!) do not need the 2500+ calories per day required by people out and about leading a normal life.
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They put laxative in the puddings I think. Very sensible when people are taking no exercise at all.
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SWMBO visited me when I was in for a few days and was surprised to see me eating a corned beef salad.
"You never eat corned beef and you dislike salad". she said.
"You should've seen the other options". I replied.
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The restaurant at Bedford hospital was, at least when I lived locally, such good value that several people I knew (mostly single cab drivers, it has to be said) would go there every week for their Sunday lunches.
Compare and contrast with the hospital 25 miles away where Mum spent many weeks in her final years, where they really did remove untouched food from the over-bed tables even though the patients were so immobile as to be unable to reach out to it.
Last edited by: Dave_TD {P} on Mon 21 Feb 11 at 21:45
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If you are collecting a pension they WANT you to die. FACT.
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I'm quite fussy, and love home cooking, but I've been in hospital twice in the last 7 months, and the food was very good. (And the NHS treatment I received was extremely good, BTW)
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Now I'm really worried! I've got 5 pensions, none of them at all large I might add!
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And to think I was fretting about 2!
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>> "Not only was there a choice of main courses, but you could have all of
>> the main courses on offer."
>>
>> Do you mean that when asked whether you wanted a or b or c you
>> could give the classic answer "yes"?
Nope. You said a and b and c.
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When SWMBO was in hospital last year she was not impressed by the standard of the food.
I noted that a hot meal was served at lunch but it was only sandwiches in the evening.
Quite often she and others missed a meal because they were in X ray or had been shifted to another bed and either got what the previous occupant had ordered or nothing was available to eat until the next scheduled meal time.
Of course 24 hours prior to an operation (she had two in the space of five days )it was 'nil by mouth' so when she came back from operations and wanted to eat something it was not necessarily available at the time she wanted or needed it.
She lost a lot of weight over the three weeks she was in the hospital despite me tempting her with her favourite snacks.
During the bad snow I personally fed a 90 + year old lady in the next bed but one to SWMBO . She had been told she could go home ( why I do not know as she could not cope for herself ) and had been sat waiting for transport for three hours .
She could not feed herself or understand why nobody came to collect her and was in some distress. The nurses were all around the desk or running around trying to organise transport and did not seem to have time to look after her. I managed to feed her and reassure her but lots of other elderly people I am sure are suffering in the same way .
Not very satisfactory at all.
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>>
>> Quite often she and others missed a meal because they were in X ray or
>> had been shifted to another bed and either got what the previous occupant had ordered
>> or nothing was available to eat until the next scheduled meal time.
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>> Of course 24 hours prior to an operation (she had two in the space of
>> five days )it was 'nil by mouth' so when she came back from operations and
>> wanted to eat something it was not necessarily available at the time she wanted or
>> needed it.
>>
SWMBO spent a few days in different hospitals during the latter stages of pregnancy with Spamcan Junior, this time delay issue led to huge wastage. Meals had to be ordered 24 hrs. in advance, she'd order a meal and then be discharged an hour later, or move ward and no meal would turn up. I wasn't the only one taking Burger King meals into the ward! - conveniently Southampton General has a Burger King in the entrance hall.
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Funny that you should bring this up. Only yesterday a complete stranger asked me if I liked hospital food. I thought it was quite nice of him to take an interest...especially as I had just nicked his parking space
Maybe there is hope for this country after all...
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Hospital Food - Cliff Pope
