Hull team aims to quash the typical ‘hospital food’ stereotype with choice, quality and nutrition

Hospital food: while it can sometimes get a bad rap, it can arguably play as much of a part in a patient’s recovery as medication and clinical care.

Ward caterer, Debbie, prepares drinks for patients

Over the past few years, the Patient Meals Team working across Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital has used this as their mantra, investing both time and resources in improving the choice, quality and nutritional value of food on offer.

Getting this right is no mean feat when you consider, across the two hospitals, some 200 staff are involved in providing three square meals, plus drinks and snacks, for around 1,200 patients every day.

“Over the past couple of years, the patient meals team has worked hard to try and improve the range and quality of food available,” says Patient Meals Service Manager, Bradley Wheldrake.

“The standard inpatient menu has almost doubled in size to offer around ten different lunch and dinner options; at least four of these are now hot meals, while each service also contains healthy options, meals suitable for vegetarians and vegans, and there’s a separate children’s menu.”

Bradley describes the British Dietitians Association (BDA) guidance as ‘our bible’. Many days and weeks having been spent crafting menus which meet BDA requirements to provide good nutrition, cater to multiple dietary requirements and allergies, and which can be provided in ways which best meet patient needs, for example, if a person has difficulty swallowing.

Jo Tock and Bradley Wheldrake in HRI’s Nourish restaurant

“It’s also important for us to keep on top of trends and changes in meal choices,” Bradley continues.

“There will always be meals which we know will always be popular; macaroni cheese, steak pie; those kinds of things will always have a place on the menu, but tastes are changing. Spicy foods seem to be much more popular these days, a lot of people are following vegetarian or vegan diets, patients often have dietary requirements for religious or cultural reasons, and we are also having to cater to more allergies and intolerances now too.

“On the flip side, we have some patients who don’t or can’t eat a lot for various reasons, so we have to look at how we provide them with smaller portions of calorie and protein-rich, nutritionally dense foods which appeal to them.

“We’re proud to say we’re one of the very few hospitals in the country to create our own IDDSI meals in house. These are texture-modified meals for patients who cannot have regular meals because of difficulties with chewing or swallowing. Because they’re produced in-house, we know exactly what goes into them, we can ensure they are protein and calorie rich, and we can also tweak our recipes based on patient feedback.”

Over the past 16 years, Jo Tock has progressed from ward catering assistant to Patient Meals Assistant Manager, so she really understands the challenge of a mammoth meal service from the ground up.

Patient meals assistant, Sam, ensures meals get where they need to be

Jo says:

“One of the things we really pride ourselves on is our flexibility and being able to cater for all patients, no matter what the dietary ask. Whether it’s a gluten free or vegan diet, a dairy intolerance or a specific allergy to an ingredient, if we’re told about it, we’ll do whatever we can to ensure we best meet that person’s needs.

“As we have our own diet chef in-house, our starting point is usually, tell us what you would normally eat at home, and we’ll go from there.

“If you’re spending time in hospital, mealtimes help to break up the long days, so we want them to be a highlight. Good nutrition and regular meals are really important for our patients’ recovery and their ongoing health once they’re discharged from hospital, so our team has an important job to do both in terms of patient experience and their physical care.”

Catering at volume is never easy, of course, and once one course has finished, the team is already on with preparing for the next meal service. Outside core mealtimes, the team also ensures snacks are available for patients, making this a truly 24-hour, round-the-clock service.

Patient meals assistant, Lois, portions home-made, protein rich chocolate mousse

Bradley continues: “We’re always conscious of our impact on the environment, so we rotate the menus seasonally and use as much recyclable packaging as we can.

“While it’s not possible to source everything locally on the scale we require, we do try and use local companies where we can, so we use nearby suppliers for items such as meat and fish, for example.

“We’ve also been able to reduce the amount of food waste through better portion control, reviewing how we order food, the introduction of single portions to reduce over-ordering, and more regular food waste audits.

“On top of that, we’ve gained the highest possible environmental heath rating of ‘5 – Very Good’ for our patient meals service at both hospitals for the past five years, which shows just how seriously our staff take their role.”

At a time when costs and pressures in all sectors are rising, this is one local team who have made it their mission to cater to patients’ most basic and yet most personal of needs without compromising on quality or taste.

Towards the end of the year, a patient meal tasting session will be held in Hull to introduce the new winter menu, where staff, visitors and members of the public will be able to sample some of the patient meals on offer for free.