Hospital bosses praise food that failed to pass patients’ taste test

Three in five NHS hospitals have awarded themselves the highest possible rating for the standard of their catering, with 95 out of 156 trusts in England and all but two in Yorkshire scoring their meals 5/5, figures show.

But the Campaign for Better Hospital Food said patients were less impressed according to an independent Care Quality Commission (CQC) survey, in which 43 per cent of patients rated their meals only “fair” or “poor”.

The discovery has led to renewed calls for mandatory hospital food standards similar to those that already exist for meals served in schools, prisons and Government departments.

The widest gulf between staff and patient views in Yorkshire was at Rotherham Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where only 46 per cent of patients said the food was good and yet staff rated it 5/5.

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, which was also scored 5/5, received the highest patient rating of 63 per cent.

Only Bradford and York Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trusts gave their meals less than top marks but still rated them highly at 4/5 and 4.88/5 respectively.

Across England, annual staff assessments found 99 per cent of patient meals were “good” or “excellent” with only two trusts reporting their meals did not meet this standard.

But just 57 per cent of the patients surveyed by the CQC said the food they were served was “good” or “very good”.

Alex Jackson, co-ordinator of the Campaign for Better Hospital Food, said: “It is time for the Government to come clean about the sorry state of hospital food in England and set mandatory standards for patient meals.

“Surely patients recovering in hospital have the same right to good food as ministers, school kids and prisoners?”

Nearly 100 organisations that support the campaign, including the Royal College of Physicians, the British Heart Foundation and the Patients Association, have joined it in backing a new health and social care food standards Bill introduced by former health minister Baroness Cumberlege.

The legislation would require all hospital meals to meet mandatory quality, nutritional and environmental standards.

Data published by the CQC and the Health and Social Care Information Centre shows that 14 of the 20 hospitals serving the best patient meals employ NHS catering staff to prepare and cook food from scratch.

At 12 of the 20 hospitals serving the worst food, meals are made by a private catering company. More than half of patient food made by private caterers is delivered to the hospital as a pre-prepared ready-meal and reheated before being served to patients.

Sara Gorton, deputy head of health at Unison, said the union was backing calls for set standards for hospital foods and also wanted to see more meals prepared and cooked on site.

“Giving patients healthy, fresh, more tempting food is an essential part of speeding up recovery,” she said.

“While costs vary, it is plain that food cooked fresh on hospital premises scores the highest with patients.

“We want more hospitals to use kitchens to prepare and cook patient meals instead of bringing in ready-meals from outside.

“Hospitals can also play an important role in using public money to buy from local farms and suppliers, boosting the local economy, rather than just trading with multinational corporations.”

A Department of Health spokesman said it supported the principle of food standards but did not think legislation was the way forward.

A “tough” new inspection programme would help to drive up standards and reduce variation in quality, he said.

“We believe that the best decisions on hospital food are those taken locally by chefs and catering managers,” he said.

“Patients are the ones who consume hospital food and they are best placed to decide what is good and what is not.”