Hospital meals are still like a dog’s dinner for hungry patients
PITIFUL meals are still being served in Scottish hospitals – nine months after the Scottish Government pledged to outlaw them.
Daily Mail readers have provided damning photographic evidence of paltry and inedible offerings received in hospital over the last few weeks.
Despite a Scottish Government promise to raise hospital food standards following the Mail’s Better Meals for Patients campaign, wards have still to see tangible results.
Pictures from across the UK include a barely-identifiable slab of meat from Monklands Hospital in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, and two sorry-looking dishes from Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
Only last month, the Scottish Government said revised standards for hospital food were being introduced, including improved inspections and specific guidelines for children’s food. Part of the shake-up was a pledge to i ntroduce legislation forcing health boards to provide better meals.
Consultations are now complete, says the Government, and the new standards will be introduced later this year.
But the Campaign for Better Hospital Food said it was clear that ward meals are still in an ‘appalling state’.
Co-ordinator Alex Jackson said his group had found that 67 per cent of hospital staff would be unhappy to eat the food they serve to patients. He added: ‘Patients need nourishing, wholesome meals which are appetising and tasty to eat, not soulless, factory-made food they clearly can’t stomach.’
The Monklands Hospital patient was a severely underweight woman suffering from both Type 1 diabetes and coeliac disease.
The patient, who asked to remain anonymous, said: ‘How anyone would be able to eat this is beyond me, never mind someone who is only there in the first
Vegetable medley: Ninewells What is it?: Ninewells again place to gain weight. I was told the meat was pork but I’m not convinced. My sister posted it on Facebook and most people thought it was brain or tongue! Yuck!’
A spokesman for NHS Lanarkshire said: ‘We are committed to providing high-quality food, fluid and nutritional care to all our patients.
‘All of our menus must comply with nutritional standards and have been checked by NHS Lanarkshire’s head dietician.’
Meanwhile Dr Drew Walker, NHS Tayside’s director of Public Health, said: ‘We take the nutrition and hydration of our patients very seriously.
‘Ninewells staff receive very positive feedback on the meals they serve and they will be disappointed to learn that your reader did not enjoy the dishes she was served.’
Public Health Minister Maureen Watt said new standards had been drawn up by NHS National Services Scotland.
She said: ‘These new guidelines place a greater emphasis on audits of meals, so we can ensure that meals are tasty, nutritious, the right temperature, and served at the right times.
‘There will also be a specific section on children’s catering for the first time.
‘We will soon consult on whether to make these new nutrition guidelines legally binding. Patients should have a right to expect high quality and nutritious food that meets their specific needs and aids recovery.’
Elsewhere, Carolyn Anderson was served a baked potato and a side serving of potato balls at Milton Keynes General Hospital while Sammy Parker, 46, was handed two plain baked potatoes in Bradford Royal Infirmary.
However, others have said how pleased they were with some of the food they were served.