Hospital food

It's not cordon bleu, but it's not that bad either. If the NHS is as short of cash as reported, should we be spending limited resources on gourmet meals? When I'm in for a day or so I find that there's not enough of it, but even then, when I went in for a week I found that my appetite better matched the portion size after I'd been lazing around for couple of days.

bonji one problem is that hospital food on the whole is now "cook/chill". It is cooked elsewhere, chilled and then transported. I cannot remember even roughly how much per head moneywise each patient is allocated per day or week but it is abysmal.

Many hospitals no longer have a kitchen on site so one can no longer order eg scrambled egg if somebody cannot manage the main menu.

Don't even start me on this one! When DH was in hospital for a month having a stem cell transplant, which leaves most people suffering from sickness, diahhroea and mouth sores, and definitely no appetite, the food was beyond belief! Everything seemed to arrive as a thick brown sludge. Fortunately his nurses were always happy to produce milk shakes or warm up a bowl of porridge at any hour of the day or night.

Later when he was in a different hospital after an operation for peritonitis the choice of food seemed to be either microwaved curry or curled up cardboardy sandwiches. Totally unsuitable for someone whose intestines were in a delicate state already! His consultant told me to bring in packed lunches for him.

Sadly the first of these hospitals is one that turned down an offer of help from James Martin during his hospital food campaign.

Crun, it is not a question of gourmet meals or small portions. It is question of being given decent quality food well cooked and attractively presented. My last experience of hospital food was a dry cheese sandwich and a mug of soup made from soup powder and warm tap water. This was considered adequate nutrition after being nil by mouth for 24 hours. It was inedible and went in the waste bucket and I got no more to eat for another 12 hours.

I rest my case.

I was in two hospitals for a week three years ago. The food was appalling. I made myself eat just enough to stop feeling sick with hunger and got my husband to bring fruit, crisps and biscuits in. I still lost weight. In one of them we got cereal and plain sliced bread for breakfast. Could not even have toast. No fresh whole fruit, hardly any veg.

Our local hospital farms out lots of the operations to the local Nuffield where the food is like a good hotel - far far more than I could eat and far too rich. I lived in salads and fruit. I do not ever go to hotels now as I cannot cope with the rich food.

James Martin has been trying to improve hospital food Maybe you should contact him.

Eight years ago I was in hospital for an operation. I have nothing but praise for the surgical and nursing staff and nothing but contempt for the dreadful catering. Before leaving I got a chance to eat in the canteen - it was run by the same caterers and was equally dreadful. Damn good thing my surgeon had told me to bring a few bottles of wine in with me... I had to teach a nurse how to use a cork-screw!

@Luckygirl - "I lived in salads and fruit."

You call that living?

I had to be on a special diet when I was in hospital earlier this year and had porridge which was sticky for some reason but only just edible, I had a choice of yoghurt which was fine as it was a reasonable brand and custard (powdery) and soup which was powdery and lukewarm and as it cooled went gluey. Why don't they use tinned soup if they cant manage real stuff. It cant be much more expensive and if they buy catering size tins then it should be ecomonical. I did not have much appetite and was glad to be home. I never did get to try the main meals but as they were mainly spicy then I would not have liked them anyway

That's my kind of life! - who needs a house!

Hi bonji, how were the meals plated and what were supposed to be they called?

I heard on the radio relatives had to bring food in
a) Because it was abysmal looked awful and tasted worse.
b) He/she had to stay to feed the relative as there weren't sufficient nurses to feed those who couldn't. So very

Had an operation last year. Excellent care, and I'm well again. However food looked really horrible. I had been well warned by friends, so my relatives kept me going with fruit ,cheese, yoghurts and little sandwiches. I think what we have to remember is the fact that had I been at home I would have paid for my own food in any case. Perhaps we should look at the excellent medical care most of us receive for free, and be prepared to organise food ourselves, instead of expecting hospitals to cater for our individual tastes in food. Having said that I do realise that some patients will not be able to depend on a steady stream of visitors carrying food items.
I think we are very fortunate to receive excellent medical care for free.

Spanish patients are expected to provide their own food

Aren't their families also allowed to stay all day, too? Can you imagine that in our hospitals.

whitewave I would starve as I do not have any family.

When I broke my ankle in 2009 there was not an NHS bed available so I was in a private ward and the food and coffee were superb. That was all that was, the nursing care was non existent.

In our local hospital no one is allowed to visit while patient have their meals so anyone wanting to go to feed an elderly relative would not be able to.

Are you sure, ethel? All wards have their own policies. If someone needs help in feeding carers are usually allowed to help. In fact, while helping my husband eat, I was often offered an apron and asked to help others. I refused, of course. No idea what you are going to catch, and my husband needed help anyway, although I would go and get someone if I saw anyone having trouble eating.
Quite often when the visitors were coming in, I would be going to the restaurant and they wondered what I was doing on the ward. I would tell them the policy and some of them asked to help, too.
Just look on NHS choices to see the policy. Every ward should have a written one, too.

On all my visits to friends and relatives in hospitals here in Oxford ,for the last fifteen years, I can tell you that the food is truly terrible.
How sad this is when in the past it used to be so good.Cereals, a cooked breakfast and then toast and marmalade, used to be the norm, along with as many hot cups of tea that you wanted, 30 years ago.Food, especially when a patient is on the mend is so important, and if anybody doesn't have regular visitors now to provide that food, it's a poor lookout.
Good medical care is great, but should go hand in hand with good food to build you up and actual'care' as well, being kind and fetching a bedpan when a patient asks for it not half an hour later.

I think the NHS does a great job but my experience of hospital food - since the birth of my daughter in 1972 and on a couple of occasions since - is that it is unappetising and ghastly (apart from a very brief stay in a cottage hospital when my son was born).

I don't know how this should be resolved but I think it is really important that people who are ill have the very best food because they are at their lowest ebb and need building up. I'm sure it would save money in the long run by preventing re-admissions.

Given the state of the NHS funding I don't think there is much prospect of more money being spent on food. I remember 20 years ago a friend who taught health visitors was in hospital. She said she'd calculated the calorie content of the food and it was not up her recommended energy intake. Taking in some appetising food is the best thing a relative can do - with the proviso that some patients have dietary restrictions.
I can understand why hospitals try to restrict visiting and IMO it should do more. I don't think it is appropriate to 4-5 visitors at a time, babies on beds and toddlers on the floor.

JessM, I'm still upset about 24/7 family visitation! DS was recovering from open heart surgery (he was 9). Kids and babies were everywhere all day and night. It was the same in maternity wards (US) for me and my DD, too.

As for food, we brought McDonalds so he'd get strong enough ASAP. (And then he continued a heart healthy diet...)

I don't hear serious complaints about food in hospital, though. Only that it is bland and not hot.

I agree, the food is awful on the wards and in the staff canteens. I expect its mainly down to cost. When our daughter was in for 48 hours after a csection we took food in for her. I expect many families who have the money and ability do the same but that as ever, leaves more vulnerable individuals with an inadequate diet.

A friend who was hospitalised in Greece for several days had her travelling companion present most of the time because no food was provided by the hospital and care such as washing etc also had to be provided to family/friends. I wouldn't want this country to move to open visiting hours. Being surrounded by noise and chatter with large family groups around the bed next to you isn't enjoyable.