A turning point for hospital food?

The episode took us to Sheffield Teaching Hospital Foundation Trust, a Food for Life Served Here awarded hospital trust, and credited it with being part of a ‘pioneering’ group making positive change to hospital meals. 

Sheffield Teaching Hospital Foundation have a ‘cook, chill, production facility’, where meals are prepared from scratch and then delivered to other hospital sites in Sheffield, including ‘textured modified meals’ for stroke patients. These recipes are improved based on patient feedback and have the same quality ingredients as the standard meals. Meals include minced lamb with a crispy potato gratin, beef stew and chilli. 

This isn’t the case everywhere - the quality of food in NHS hospitals varies widely and there can be high levels of food waste. To combat this, the Hospital Food Review took place in 2020. 

It recommended that legal standards should be implemented for hospital food quality and sustainability. As part of its key recommendations, the review suggested that NHS trusts consider adopting an accreditation scheme, such as Food for Life Served Here. Food for Life has been driving positive change in hospital food for over a decade. 

Speaking on BBC Food Programme, Rob Percival, Head of Policy - Food and Health - at Soil Association, underlined that “we just need to get back to real, fresh ingredients, scratch cooking”.   

“Food hasn’t been a priority for chief executives or hospital boards. Whilst the ideal is to be cooking on-site, from scratch there are other viable options to ensure food is fresh for patients, including local hub kitchens, or food cooked at one hospital being transported to another local hospital.”  

The benefits of improving hospital food extend beyond patients, too, influencing the local economy and the planet.  

The NHS has the potential to be British farming’s biggest customer says Alexia Robinson founder of ‘Love British Food’.  

Prue Leith CBE, who advised on the 2020 Hospital Food Review, said “If the Government sticks with it […] we can make a real difference”.  

At a time when the obesity strategy is at risk of being scrapped, and the NHS is under great pressure, Food for Life is calling on Government to follow the recommendations set out by the Hospital Food Review, ensuring patient health and wellbeing is put top of the agenda.