The Prince of Wales is president of the King’s Fund and together with chief executive Niall Dickson will visit one of the four pilot NHS hospital’s aiming to increase the use of locally grown and organic produce. The Prince will meet the suppliers of the first delivery; 300 punnets of organic strawberries from Cambridgeshire, as well as tour a farmers’ market where producers, suppliers and caterers will display the variety of produce that the project will provide to NHS hospitals. St George’s Healthcare Trust chair Naaz Coker said: “We owe it all to those who come to St George’s to provide fresh and healthy food. This is an innovative project, in which everyone is a winner and we are delighted to welcome the Prince of Wales… I think with his support and help from all those involved we can really make a difference to food quality.”
The Hospital Food Project is a two-year scheme, launched in January 2004 by organisers London Food Link and the Soil Association. The project’s aim is to reduce the time food takes to travel from farm to plate in order to maximise nutritional value, and to build supply chains for local farmers from London and the south east to boost the local economies - for every £10 spent on local organic food generates £25 for the local economy. Project co-ordinator Fiona Caincross said: “It’s really good to see the results of all the hard work gone into the project. I look forward to the time when fresh, healthy food becomes the norm, rather than the exception.”
The financial backers of the pilot schemes taking place in four London hospitals are the King’s Fund, Defra and the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund. Dickson said: “The NHS spends £500 million on food to serve over 300 million meals each year in approximately 1,200 hospitals. The project is an excellent example of how the NHS can use its corporate spending power to boost the local economy at the same time as improving direct services to patients.”
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