NHS meals: Letters special
I spent four separate periods of between ten days and two weeks in the Western General Hospital and the Royal Infirmary of edinburgh.
After a few days of not eating because of being unwell, I was urged to eat. the food served was disgusting and far from tempting to an ill person – simply looking at it made me feel sick. even something like ice cream, which you would think was pretty innocuous, tasted like soap and was served melted.
sandwiches were made with the very cheapest of sliced bread and ‘ham’ was some kind of tinned chopped pork. I survived on food brought in for me by friends.
After one surgery and three days in intensive care in the Western General Hospital, the only palatable thing I had to eat was a couple of slices of fresh toast and butter.
It is a difficult job to mass cater on such a limited budget, but the quality of cooking was partly to blame for the inedible meals.
I have just watched a programme about Broadmoor and the quality of meals they are able to produce there is on a different level. If it can be done there why not in mainstream hospitals?
Lorna Barnes, via email
Prisoners get better fed
I Recently spent two months in hospital and was often sad to see so much going to waste, mainly because the food was so unappetising – and often cold by the time it reached my ward.
I found the process of ordering of meals one and two days ahead frustrating and was sure that what turned up on my plate was not always what I had ordered.
since edwina Currie’s outburst about eggs containing salmonella, hospitals use powdered egg and I can only describe the omelette I ordered as ghastly.
I am sure chefs take no pride in dishing up such food. I am appalled to know that prisoners are given three cooked meals a day – plus all the other comforts they enjoy.
While I was in hospital I was very conscious that everything was being supplied by the NHS and felt that at least patients could have paid something towards their meals, thus allowing better quality ingredients to be purchased.
moira Kerr, crieff, Perthshire.
Little short of pig swill
My sister has been a patient in Glasgow Royal Infirmary for three weeks and the food that has been offered to her is nothing short of pig swill.
she has lost so much weight, it’s heartbreaking to watch. sunday lunch was pre-packed sandwiches, a chunk of Black Forest gateau served in a bowl with a fork, and a cup of milk. On thursday it was chicken casserole with broccoli through it – I thought it was a plate of vomit.
How can patients’ health improve if they cannot eat the food?
I am writing to the First Minister to complain about the total lack of care given to people who are very ill and are depending on the system to provide it.
FLORA christie, via email
I lost a stone in weight
I Have been a patient at Hairmyres Hospital in east Kilbride, Lanarkshire, off and on over several years.
I was made aware that the meals are brought up from Manchester and I have to say they are rubbish.
I couldn’t eat the food supplied by that hospital. I didn’t eat anything other than a roll and butter for breakfast. My wife brought me in a meal when visiting each evening. When I was discharged, I had lost a stone in weight.
I’m not surprised by what you reported. I’m scared to go back in case I contract something else.
ALEC rutherford, via email
Replacement meals
I have been a patient many times over two years at both the Royal Infirmary of edinburgh and the city’s Western General Hospital.
the quality of meals at both hospitals is excellent. Food is of good quantity and alternatives to suit various diets are available.
If a substandard meal slips the net (and this can happen in the fin- est restaurants), it will be replaced if you speak to the staff.
One cannot help but wonder what foods the complainers eat at home – sorry, no Big Macs or KFC available on the NHS.
Alan Gardiner, via email
Healthy options
I have just spent eight days in st John’s Hospital, Livingston, West Lothian, and found the meals cooked to a very high standard with a variety of healthy options.
Last sunday I had delicious soup served piping hot. the main course was moist and tender turkey breast, chipolatas, stuffing, broccoli and roast potatoes with gravy, then a very tasty trifle.
I know the food is cooked on site, which is a major plus, but I never had a meal which I didn’t enjoy.
archie Alexander, via email
Just like school dinners
LAST year my 91-year-old father was in the Western General Hospital and Liberton Hospital, both edinburgh. this year he was in the Royal Infirmary of edinburgh.
He found every patient is given a daily menu with choices for breakfast, lunch and evening meals with small or large portions. Included is the option of soup, fresh fruit and fruit juice. tea, coffee and biscuits and water are served throughout the day.
Meals are clearly not of restaurant standard and nor should we expect them to be. It is sufficient however, perhaps comparable to the school dinners I remember when I was a child.
the NHS in edinburgh is doing a good job under severe pressure.
anne duffy, edinburgh.
Moans take the biscuit
I RECENTLY spent time in Forth vall ey Hospital in Larbert, stirlingshire.
For dinner I had home-made soup, chicken, stuffing, cabbage and potatoes. For breakfast I had cereals, two slices of fresh toast with butter and jam and a yoghurt.
Both meals were of good quality and tasty. At other times the staff asked if you wanted tea or coffee and if you wanted a biscuit. Well done to this hospital.
John Hamilton, via email
Enigma injustice
The Imitation Game is a new film on the life of second World War cryptographer Alan turing which pushes the received wisdom that he broke the German enigma code, thereby singlehandedly shortening the war. the truth is different.
the enigma code was broken in the early thirties by polish cryptographers led by Marian Rejewski, who was a mathematician. they received assistance f rom the French intelligence service.
In 1939, when the Germans invaded poland, the team transferred their information to the Allies. the groundwork for the Ultra codebreakers at Bletchley park was then laid by the poles.
the work of Alan turing has been seized on by the gay lobby, who see him as some kind of martyr, and used to promote their own agenda. the result is a grave injustice to the true breakers of the enigma code. DANIEL CALDERWOOD,
Paisley, renfrewshire.
Lazy stereotype
I Have just returned from the Republic of Ireland, where I’ve been surveying the alarming increase in suicide among hill farmers.
One farmer said: ‘It was my intention to pass on the farm to my eldest son, but the farm wasn’t producing sufficient income to support us.
‘My son would need to find a part-time job, but there’s nothing available. the local factories and warehouses employ mainly foreign labour prepared to work long hours for slave labour rates. they live in rented accommodation, with several sharing a room.
‘Our children aren’t prepared to do this, so they’ve gone to new Zealand and Australia. Many young men who stay at home are on antidepressants or drugs and alcohol and some have committed suicide.
‘Cheap foreign labour is wiping out our young people; we can’t compete.’
When I read claims that the Brits are ‘too lazy to work’, I assume the young Brits are experiencing similar problems as the young Irish.
timothy Fleming, isleworth, middx.