Hospital food is still being shamefully neglected despite growing evidence of its critical impact on patient recovery.
This was the overriding message delivered to delegates at a seminar held by the Westminster Diet & Health Forum this week.
Alison Kitson, executive director of nursing at the royal college of nursing said food needed to be prioritised at every step within the hospital from the board-room down to the ward.
Health policy research fellow, Karen Jochelson, agreed that a more holistic approach was necessary to change hospital policies on all food on-site, including staff meals, retail outlets and vending machines.
As physical representations of the DoH, hospitals should be actively demonstrating its policies on health, such as the 5 A Day campaign, she said.
And the first step is to make sure the supply chain is fit for the unusually complex requirements of hospital catering.
President of the Patients Association, Claire Rayner, highlighted the importance of flexibility within the system to cater for diverse dietary needs.
She emphasised the importance of providing snacks such as apples and bananas and small meals throughout the day.
Peter Van Gilder, said the competitive tendering process introduced in the 1980s was prohibiting the move to improve standards of food in hospitals by restricting the products to which they have access.
Andy Kemp, group sales director at 3663, agreed that more communication between catering companies and hospital purchasing managers was overdue.
But the fact that some trusts had visibly succeeded in prioritising the issues of sustainable farming and environmental issues as well as nutrition and enjoyment of food should encourage others to follow suit, he said.
“It is easy to source from sustainable farming initiatives with people like 3663. There are people thirsting to come into our industry providing they can get decent money,” Kemp added.
Some hospitals and districts in London are already benefiting from a more holistic approach to nutrition thanks to London Food Link, a project introduced in partnership with Sustain and the Soil Association to increase organic and locally-sourced food in hospitals.
Emma Hockridge, hospital food project officer for the campaign, said not only were hospitals benefiting from increased food sales, which could help subsidise patient meals, but the local economies were also boosted by increases in local procurement.
Martin Forsyth, quality assurance executive at 3663, raised the suggestion that sustainability might be an unnecessarily distracting issue in hospital food sourcing.
However, NHS purchasing and supply agency fresh produce manager, Mike Tiddy, suggested it was an issue of growing significance.
He said: “We have to look at sustainability as a global concern. It is too simple to look at it from just a regional or local point of view.”
Tiddy claimed that increasing public awareness had been one of the key successes of the School fruit and Vegetable Scheme, and hospitals needed to operate in the same way.
He said: “People look at schools differently and I think hospitals are going to be forced down the line to look at the way they approach these issues.”
However, more emphasis should be placed on improving nutrition in the community to reduce government spending on medical treatment and hospitalisation in the first place, he claimed.
