Stop hospitals selling toxic treats to patients

DoInG my ward rounds the other week, I screeched to an almost comedic halt by the bed of a patient who’d been treated for a heart attack 24 hours earlier. But, believe me, what I saw wasn’t funny.

only the day before, this man had been rushed into hospital, gasping for breath and in need of life-saving treatment. rushing to his aid, I carried out a coronary angioplasty — inserting a small tube to unblock an artery and so restore decent blood supply to his heart muscle.

you would think such a frightening experience would have been a wakeup call for my patient — a thundering reminder of his mortality and the near-fatal consequences of his poor diet and lack of exercise.

But on the table beside his bed I spotted an open can of sugary drink, a bar of chocolate and a tube of sweets. And he was casually snacking on a packet of crisps.

Suppressing my anger and frustration, I suggested this wasn’t the best diet for a man whose heart was clearly in trouble. His response was a nonchalant shrug. ‘Well, you sell this stuff to us, doc. I just bought it from the trolley round.’

I was speechless: he was right — we had handed him the smoking gun.

EVEry day in hospitals across the country, trolley rounds, newsagent concessions, High Street fast-food franchises and vending machines offer a dazzling array of junk food, sweet drinks and sugary snacks for patients to gorge on.

It is appalling to see patients, some of whom are not even fully mobile after their operations, stuffing themselves with confectionary and salty, fat-laden food, which probably contributed to their admission in the first place.

It’s also worth noting that 50 per cent of nHS staff are overweight — I’ve seen my fair share, from doctors and nurses to clerical staff — and they’re clearly buying the stuff, too.

For a depressing snapshot of this absurd irony, look no further than the sign at Guy’s Hospital, London, that points to the onsite mcdonald’s. meanwhile Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge — an acclaimed cardiac centre — has a Burger King. It’s very common to see patients with heart conditions in there devouring double burgers with cheese and French fries.

Bed-bound patients often fare no better, with official hospital food bland, reheated, sugary or salt-soaked, and which has been outsourced to save money.

A recent survey found that 70 per cent of staff (even, clearly, some of the workers with weight problems) wouldn’t touch the stuff. I’m certainly one of them, preferring to find a cafe nearby that sells salads or freshly made wholemeal sandwiches.

My FIELd, cardiology, feels the brunt of Britain’s spiralling obesity crisis. So how can doctors like me begin to encourage people to embrace healthy living when a bad diet is legitimised by a junk- food culture on our hospital grounds?

It’s a frustrating and mindnumbing game of one step forward, three steps back.

Surely it’s time for the nHS to ban all sale and service of unhealthy food from its premises? The World Cancer research Fund seems to think so — last week, it called for a ban on vending machines selling junk food in hospitals.

And my motion to the British medical Association urging hospitals to sell only healthy products was overwhelmingly endorsed by 500 representatives at a recent conference.

If anyone says such a move would smack of nanny- state interference, then tell me how this differs from banning smoking in public places or the statutory requirement to wear a seat belt. All of which exist for the protection of our health.

If there is to be a trolley-round, it should offer sugar-free drinks, water, fresh fruit and healthy snacks, such as nuts and seeds.

obesity is a public-health crisis crippling the nHS. Prevention is better than cure, and hospitals need to set the educational example in the small window of opportunity they have when patients are in their care.

until something is done, cardiologists and doctors such as myself will battle on to save patients who have been felled by life-threatening heart conditions.

What a pity getting us to perform such complex work is seen by the nHS as a preferred option to getting rid of a vending machine crammed with junk food. We should be ashamed of ourselves.