Hospitals spending as little as 94p on meals

HOSPITALS are spending as little as 94p on patient meals, with many health boards cutting costs by buying in cheaper meat, fish, fruit and vegetables from abroad.

The details emerged under a Freedom of Information request by the BBC.

NHS Grampian spent £3.50 per day which it said broke down as 94p for each of the two main meals and £1.62 for snacks and drinks. It also sourced 50 per cent of its frozen food from overseas last year and 40 per cent of its chilled food products also came from abroad.

Professor Mike Lean, chair of human nutrition at Glasgow University, said: “There must be a lower limit below which quality will be sacrificed in a variety of ways.

“Meal quality has a number of elements: it has to look good, taste good, texture must be good and it must be nutritionally good.”

Daily spending on meals in other health boards ranged from £2.80 to £3.40 per day in Dumfries and Galloway, £3.18 by NHS Borders, £3.20 by NHS Ayrshire and Arran, and £6.82 in NHS Shetland.

Health boards said food was purchased via national procurement contracts to get the best deals possible, and that low costs did not necessarily reflect poor quality.

NHS Lothian stressed that although its cheapest meals were served at St John’s Hospital, the kitchen was “widely recognised for the high-quality meals” provided.

The most recent Scottish Care Experience Survey found 18 per cent of patients were not happy with the food they had received.

Public Health Minister Aileen Campbell said: “There will be differences in terms of price but we do expect that nutritional guidelines will be adhered to.”