Child poverty is overwhelming teachers & GPs!

Farzanah

I think quite a few hospitals no longer cook from scratch in their own kitchens but buy food in, and it is necessarily budget, because they do not allocate enough per head for decent meals.
I think people would be surprised at how little is allocated per head.

Its quite difficult to get an accurate figure, but those that buy in do not have the overheads of kitchens, equipment or staff, so it will be considered a money saver I imagine.

Weirdly the hospital I mentioned decided to build a kitchen and very large dining areas for staff and visitors food when it was built. They just forgot about the patients.

It seems a lot of people order in takeaways etc.

I wrote a post about privatisation and austerity ,the background to LA’s selling off properties and in house kitchens but it was eaten by gremlins
MaizieD is correct, profit led private for profit companies replaced inhouse catering . Public services shouldn’t be profit making
Meals on wheels didn’t just provide nutritional freshly cooked meals, the driver developed relationships with service users. Those in need of MoW were often isolated vulnerable older people. If they didn’t answer to MoW, the driver phoned the area team duty officer who would visit. Area teams were stable and knew their older people. Home Helps didn’t just lay a fire, or push a hoover round. Relationships - but of course it’s all about profit

Isn't most hospital and school catering done by contract caterers now? Who have to build in a profit margin?

When I worked in hospital catering many moons ago we catered in house, cooking much of our food from scratch, we used fresh meat (had our own butchery department), fresh fish and predominately fresh vegetables. We did that within the confines of a per capita allowance for patients. Which was small, but we didn't have to make a profit.

My sister was a school meals organiser in the 70s when schools did their own catering. They had to pay meticulous attention to the nutritional value of the meals.

Privatisation threw all this up in the air.

I think quite a few hospitals no longer cook from scratch in their own kitchens but buy food in, and it is necessarily budget, because they do not allocate enough per head for decent meals.
I think people would be surprised at how little is allocated per head.

Its quite difficult to get an accurate figure, but those that buy in do not have the overheads of kitchens, equipment or staff, so it will be considered a money saver I imagine.

petra

Maybe if Drs were educated in the importance of nutrition ( it’s beyond me how they got to medical school without knowing this) we would have a completely different outcome for patients.

bjcardio.co.uk/2022/08/nutrition-training-for-medical-professionals-where-do-we-begin/

No, doctors do not receive adequate training in nutrition.

We have a new hospital in our AHB area , Primrose and the food has to be brought in from the old hospital a few miles away.

Yes, truly awful Primrose. Disgraceful. I had my son at the then newly built maternity unit of that Cambridge hospital and had to stay in a few days as I’d had an emergency caesarean. Even then the food was dreadful. I couldn’t wait to escape. People who are ill (which I wasn’t of course) need to be tempted with appetising, nutritious food.

Germanshepherdsmum

That’s good to know Chocolatelovinggran. Sadly the same can’t be said of the meals in many NHS hospitals - it was very disappointing to see JM revisiting and finding that they were right back where they were before he showed them how good food for the patients didn’t have to exceed their budget or be hard to prepare. He showed them where to source fresh, prepped veg for soup etc - all to no avail.

germanshepherdsmum did you know that our local hospital (N and N) was built not that long ago with no kitchens for patients food?

It is all brought in daily from Cambridge and just reheated on the wards. A lot of it is just slop and certainly not what poorly people need to build them up.

I could not believe it when I first heard about it. It’s not nutritious and the carbon footprint must be massive. Also our county is based on agriculture and there is every veg known to man grown here, along with locally reared meat.

When my Dad was in there he was in a small bay with several younger men all clowning around. Something arrived one day and was so burnt they could not see what it was, but they enjoyed throwing it to each other like a frisbee.

Its a matter of patient time with a GP, they can recommend all sorts but unless the patient is receptive...

On the question of food banks, locally they would much rather not have to act on a voucher system but local demand precludes this, they have had to have some kind of triage.
However, there are free cooked meals available with no vouchers but they tend to only open 1 day a week, don't have the means for more.

It depends where you live as to whether its viable.

I don’t accept doctors don’t understand the importance of nutrition

Maybe if Drs were educated in the importance of nutrition ( it’s beyond me how they got to medical school without knowing this) we would have a completely different outcome for patients.

bjcardio.co.uk/2022/08/nutrition-training-for-medical-professionals-where-do-we-begin/

That’s good to know Chocolatelovinggran. Sadly the same can’t be said of the meals in many NHS hospitals - it was very disappointing to see JM revisiting and finding that they were right back where they were before he showed them how good food for the patients didn’t have to exceed their budget or be hard to prepare. He showed them where to source fresh, prepped veg for soup etc - all to no avail.

I’m so relieved my life view is more positive than our friends Some Posters

Oreo and GermanShepherdsmum, I think that JO's intervention has had a lasting impact on school meals.

Probably went the same way as James Martin’s attempt to get hospital catering staff to cook nutritious and appetising meals at lower cost. They couldn’t be bothered and went back to their old ways.

Jamie Oliver tried to get schools to up their game with nutritional content for their meals for kids at school and it seemed to work for a while.Wonder what it’s like now?

Labour are talking about free breakfast clubs for all children. A great idea

Callistemon, all infant aged school children currently receive mid morning fruit and a school lunch in England, and, I believe, Scotland.I think that it's a wonderful scheme and well done to Wales for extending this to juniors. The children are fed, and no one is made to feel ashamed.

Good that people can get help without an extra helping of shame.

The Free School Meals scheme (eFSM) requires eligible parents and guardians to apply. But with the rollout of Universal Primary Free School Meals (UPFSM), all children in primary school in Wales will receive free school meals by September 2024.

It's a start.

Iam64

I’ve somehow missed this thread until reading through this morning. Is this election bringing out the worst in ‘some posters’. The usual left-right, compassion-judgemental attitudes are here but in technicolour

I’m relieved to see Luckygirl holding her own about the reality of poverty on so many of our children in 2024. Thanks also to Doodledog, Gloriannie and others for your comments. I feel grubby having read so many heartless, cold, crustal, judgemental and ill informed comments here

That's why I am firmly in favour of nutritious free school meals for all children. Some parents can afford them, obviously, but some who can't don't apply or are just above the level to claim.

Even just about managing parents might find it difficult to find £3-4 per day especially if they have 2 or more children.

The benefits would outweigh the costs imo.

zakouma66

It is in fact not possible to go to a SA foodbank " as often as you like".

I await clarification and an apology re misinformation and rudeness.

for goodness sake zakouma66 !!

I have already told you my daughter volunteered at our local SA Food Bank so I do know what I’m talking about.
I have also popped in there for a coffee when they have their weekly coffee mornings.

Unlike the Trussell foodbanks where there is a limit to how many times you can use it and you have to be referred, at our local one you do NOT have to be referred and there is no limit.

If it makes you feel better, keep telling yourself I’m a liar but I am not playing your silly games any longer.

I’ve somehow missed this thread until reading through this morning. Is this election bringing out the worst in ‘some posters’. The usual left-right, compassion-judgemental attitudes are here but in technicolour

I’m relieved to see Luckygirl holding her own about the reality of poverty on so many of our children in 2024. Thanks also to Doodledog, Gloriannie and others for your comments. I feel grubby having read so many heartless, cold, crustal, judgemental and ill informed comments here

It is in fact not possible to go to a SA foodbank " as often as you like".

I await clarification and an apology re misinformation and rudeness.

zakouma66

Callistemon213

Primrose53

MissAdventure

Breakfast clubs, which are used for many different reasons, charge, foobanks allow six visits (I think)

Only certain foodbanks do that. There are loads of foodbanks like at the Salvation Army where people can go as often as they like. There are also foodbanks at community fridges of which there are many.

Community fridges are a great idea. The food is free, often fresh food just on its sell-by date but perfectly usable plus fresh fruit and vegetables.

Open to everyone regardless of income. The idea is to avoid food waste too.

Yes, we have a simple scheme locally. Food nearly at its sell by date is shared.

Nobody abuses this as far as I can see.

A local supermarket also donates cakes, buns, biscuits which have not been sold to a nearby church where volunteers make tea and coffee for anyone who wants to drop in. We've never been but they do look tempting.
It started off as a Warm Space in the winter.