NEW FOOD RULES INTRODUCED IN UK HOSPITALS

Hospitals in England will be expected to provide a higher standard of food under new legally-binding rules.

They include a focus on quality, choice and promoting a healthy diet for patients and staff. Hospitals will also be ranked on the meals they prepare.

However, the Campaign for Better Hospital Food says the new standards do not go far enough and should be enshrined in law.

Labour warned the rules could be ignored “without proper enforcement”.

The chairman of charity of Age UK, Dianne Jeffrey, has been working with the Department of Health to produce the new NHS standards.

She said “hospitals are not five-star restaurants,” but meals were an important part of a patient’s recovery.

The new standards include: Fish twice a week, seasonal produce, tap water available, cook rice, potatoes and vegetables without salt, half of all desserts should be fruit, and half of tea and coffee.

Patients will be assessed for malnutrition when they are admitted and there will also be a greater responsibility placed on staff to ensure patients are well fed.

Ms Jeffrey said there had been reports of patients being unable to feed themselves or even reach a glass of water, but were getting no help from staff.

She told the BBC: “When a person is in hospital they are in a very vulnerable state.

“It’s very important that the food is attractive, it’s appetising, it’s palatable, it’s nutritious, it meets the cultural and social needs of patients and also meets their clinical needs.”

Michael Seres, from Radlett in Hertfordshire, has been a regular hospital patient for 30 years after being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease when he was 12.

He says his worst experiences include macaroni cheese containing just four pieces of pasta, ice cream kept on top of hot food and sandwiches so wet “you could wring out the sandwich”.

He said: “No doctor or clinician has ever advised me to eat the hospital food.

“If airlines can cope with multiple types of food that needs to be served for varying conditions or allergies, then hospitals can cater for it, schools do, prisons do, on the high street restaurants and shops do so why should it be any different in a hospital?”