Hairmyres wins food accolade
Hairmyres Hospital is the first hospital in Scotland to receive a national award for its catering.
The East Kilbride hospital was this week honoured with the Soil Association’s Food for Life Bronze Catering Mark award.
The award recognises the caterer ISS Healthcare for its work at the hospital’s Courtyard Restaurant.
The accolade marks their commitment to improve the meals they serve to hospital visitors.
Main meals are prepared using fresh ingredients which are free from undesirable additives and trans fats, are better for animal welfare, and easily traceable.
The on-site team prepare and serve over 200 meals to staff, visitors and out patients each day.
The changes at Hairmyres have been led by Robert Murray, the onsite ISS Healthcare Head Chef. He said: “I’m so proud of all our team. Of course it is fantastic to be the first hospital in Scotland to be awarded the Catering Mark Bronze award but more than that I am proud that my team serve the best quality meals we can to our customers.”
The initiative involves changing menus, working with suppliers, sourcing fresh produce such as free-range eggs and preparing meals freshly on site. All the fruit and vegetables used in meals and the salad bar are fresh and the team now offers a seasonal menu changing every three months.
Bread rolls and potato cakes are also sourced from Magee’s in Stirling as part of a commitment to source more products locally.
Soil Association Scotland said that the team had worked hard to make their food vision a reality.