Room service to wards
YOU would expect room service at fancy hotels, and now you can get it at a Toowoomba hospital.
St Vincent’s Private Hospital will be the first hospital on the Darling Downs and the first hospital in the St Vincent’s Health Australia group in Queensland to offer a room service menu from Monday.
St Vincent’s support services manager Leanne Kiepe said patients would now be able to order on demand, and could choose whatever they wanted from the menu.
“Instead of having set meal times, when maybe they have gone to physio or having a test done, when they are not there to enjoy their meal like they should,” Ms Kiepe said.
“We have really expanded our menu to offer a lot more choice and cater for a lot more different diets that are out in the community now with allergens.”
The hospital room service has been three-and-a-half months in the planning and is possible thanks to the hospital’s new $1.6 million kitchen, which opened earlier this year.
Menu items will include things like all-day breakfast, soups, sandwiches and wraps as well as seafood and steak. The paediatric ward will also get healthier options.
“We are wanting to stay competitive and offer the best that we can for our patients,” Ms Kiepe said.
“A lot of it was sourcing local products. You have a bigger range to choose form and we have a lady in the background, a dietician, that puts everything together and makes sure everything is suitable.
“All of this is designed to improve the nutritional intake of patients. If we are delivering a meal to someone when they don’t feel hungry, they won’t eat it all.
“So this give them the opportunity to order their meal when they are hungry. Which means their nutritional intake is much better which then helps with the healing process.”