Hospital Food.

[Hazell B]

Last night I had to sit and watch a grown man eat his tea in hospital.

Three small, lank lettuce leaves, half a dry-looking tomato, three slices of soggy cucumber, tablespoon of grated carrot, small bread bun and two slices of that plastic cheese they put in burgers. For afters a tiny pot of fruit that we couldn't indentify with any certainty. All served on a filthy, chipped wooden tray.

For lunch, he'd been offered a single 'chicken' (um, sure it was :rolleyes: ) sandwich.

The NHS pays a fortune for this so-called food.
Then they wonder why staff, patients and visiting family members are miserable moaners about quality :mark:

[slinkster]

I'm glad to say I've not had the... er... "pleasure" of experiencing hopsital food... and I don't want to either, but I was kept in our Uni medical centre for a night or two, and the food their was pretty tasty... even a yummy slice of apple pie for afters! ... but then I was a starving, unhealthy eating student at the time so I guess anything free would have tasted good!

[schmenke]

Last night I had to sit and watch a grown man eat his tea in hospital.

Three small, lank lettuce leaves, half a dry-looking tomato, three slices of soggy cucumber, tablespoon of grated carrot, small bread bun and two slices of that plastic cheese they put in burgers. For afters a tiny pot of fruit that we couldn't indentify with any certainty. All served on a filthy, chipped wooden tray...

Sounds deliciously like Mrs. Schmenke’s evening gastronomy preparations :facelick: , apart, of course, from the occasional dish of steamed carp… :mark:

[Dave B]

The hospital food I've experienced is reasonable, but nothing special. The first day is always a nightmare as you tend to "inherit" the order of whoever was in the bed before you.

[Hazell B]

The hospital food I've experienced is reasonable, but nothing special.

You must be an area with better caterers. It's dire beyond words in the Lincs area (for some reason we are under Lincolnshire NHS, but live in East Yorkshire :confused: ) and Mick's meal last night was typical of what they offer, or so a nurse told me.

I think it might be cheaper to get a MacDonalds order sent over, from what she said. Probably healthier, too!

[Ian McC]

My dear old mother, God rest her soul, had the misfortune of spending some time in Harlow hospital, terrible food in there :down:

[Captain VXR]

I'm lucky to have never been to hospital.

[wacked]

Never had it.. hope to keep it like that..

[veeten]

Been there, done that... the most recent was in '03, a 2-week stay to clear up an infection. Mainly the menu I had was based on my present condition (type 1 diabetes), meaning bland & tasteless versions of meals. :\

[BeansBeansBeans]

The NHS can only afford to offer basic mass-produced foods to patients. It's designed solely to meet patients need for food, not to titillate their taste buds with a range of exotic fayre.

[LeonBrooke]

Whenever I've been at the hospital at night as a student I try to get a patient's dinner if there's one going spare. Not so much because it's nice, but because I'm too lazy to bring my own dinner and eating hospital food is better than going hungry :s

[gadjo_dilo]

When I had to go to hospital to bring my mum home she warned me : Don't come before 1 p.m. because I want to have lunch here. And she said it not only because I wasn't able to cook a decent meal for her ( :laugh :) but cos the food was very good. She also said it was plenty of food and by request you could get more.

[oily oaf]

Hospital food you say? Hmmmmmmmm It's been a while :(
(leans forward in rocking chair, lights pipe and rubs chin thoughtfully) :idea:

Listen can you 'ang on a bit 'till I've had a word with that geezer that spilled my pint last Saturday night?

(dons thermal vest, scarf and deerstalker and strides menacingly out into snow towards London Hospital Whitechapel slapping length of rubber hose repeatedly into palm)

[Hotbikerchic33]

When I had to go to hospital to bring my mum home she warned me : Don't come before 1 p.m. because I want to have lunch here. And she said it not only because I wasn't able to cook a decent meal for her ( :laugh :) but cos the food was very good. She also said it was plenty of food and by request you could get more.

I bet that wasnt a hospital in the uk as that wouldnt happen here! :(
when my niece went into hospital once i was there when they served dinner it was suppose to be Shephards Pie ( i hate Shephards Pie ) when it arrived the mince was a grey colour !!! :p needlessly to say she didnt eat it!!!

[GridGirl]

My mum's been a hopsital cook for over 30 years, never done me any harm.

The food my mum cooks is all fresh produce as she works in a small hospital that only takes out patients. Unfortunately the big super hospital that they spent billions io down the road, gets their food delivered from Wales each morning, well over 150 miles away and the cooks there simply heat it up in gigantic ovens. Most people I know who've been in out so called super hospital ring up for takeaways and pick them up at the main entrance. I'd probably do the same.

[gadjo_dilo]

I bet that wasnt a hospital in the uk as that wouldnt happen here! :(
when my niece went into hospital once i was there when they served dinner it was suppose to be Shephards Pie ( i hate Shephards Pie ) when it arrived the mince was a grey colour !!! :p needlessly to say she didnt eat it!!!

The funny thing is that the hospital was in Romania, a country who's notorious for the misery in hospitals. :laugh: The food in hospitals is always associated with some tasteless sauce but I've seen it with my own eyes and I heard a lot of people saying that these days it's quite good. Of course, I know a few foppish guys who'll never eat there but they say that you're not stupid enough if you're not a swagger too. :laugh:

[Hotbikerchic33]

Foppish??? :confused:

[gadjo_dilo]

My mum's been a hopsital cook for over 30 years, never done me any harm.


So, are you eating the patients' food?

[Hotbikerchic33]

My mum's been a hopsital cook for over 30 years, never done me any harm.

The food my mum cooks is all fresh produce as she works in a small hospital that only takes out patients. Unfortunately the big super hospital that they spent billions io down the road, gets their food delivered from Wales each morning, well over 150 miles away and the cooks there simply heat it up in gigantic ovens. Most people I know who've been in out so called super hospital ring up for takeaways and pick them up at the main entrance. I'd probably do the same.


My Best friend Louise who lives in Derbyshire is a hospital cook and does a great job her food is lovely!!!! :)

but the hospital here i wouldnt touch the food if you payed me as it would probably mean id be staying in there alot longer!! :D :eek:

[GridGirl]

Sometimes if theres any left over at the end of the day, my mum will bring it home as its only going to get thrown away. I am quite partial to vegitable samosas and flapjacks.

I dont know about complaining about the food, especially patients, they are getting it for free. What about the poor people who are visiting sick relatives or friends that get forced to pay stupid prices for food if they get hungry, and thats after they've paid a good £3.50 for parking.

[Hotbikerchic33]

[quote="GridGirl"]Sometimes if theres any left over at the end of the day, my mum will bring it home as its only going to get thrown away. I am quite partial to vegitable samosas and flapjacks

Oh i love vegetable samosas's they are lovely as for flapjacks cant stand them!!!!!!! :eek:

[Caroline]

You should try being wheat intolerant when in hospital. It was 4 straight days of omelette, bananas and weak tea. Thrilling.

[Drew]

My parents used to smuggle in food for me when I was unluck enough to have to be there.

So much so that they monitored everything I ate :\

It's crap, I wonder how the food in prison is (with out going there, of course)

[CarlMetro]

It pays to go private :D

[Christina]

Last time i was in hospital i ate nothing but ice cream and jelly! it was brilliant! But then again.. i had just had my tonsils out, so there wasnt really anything else i could eat without being sore.

That was back in 1991 though.. things might have changed since then. I've tried to avoid hospitals since then, except for the occasional need for stitches (bodyboarding, sister), x-rays (car crash, "sports" injuries) and IV fluids (unidentified copius vomiting).

[tintin]

Last time I was in hospital was on a brief trip to Ireland a few years ago (well it started as a brief trip to Ireland - it had doubled in length by the time they discharged me).

For breakfast it was bread, which was quite nice, but a bit bland (I did get butter with it one day).
For lunch, jacket potato. Again, no filling.
Dinner was also mainly potato. Certainly nothing which would constitute meat, fish or vegetable.

Clearly the function was to give patients enough carbohydrate to keep them alive, and nothing more.

As soon as they let me out, I took a taxi to the airport, and got a pizza, salad, fruit and chocolate.

[tinchote]

The food at the only Canadian hospital we've been was fairly good. Both when the wife delivered and when my daughers were hospitalized :)

[jim mcglinchey]

When the wife was in having our kids, we thought the food was plain but nice. Of course this wasnt good enough for all of the chavs who ordered chinese takeaways and had them delivered to the ward. Bloody gabsh+tes

[LeonBrooke]

It pays to go private :D

Yes, but how do you pay for it?

[CarlMetro]

Yes, but how do you pay for it?

http://www.bupa.co.uk/

[LeonBrooke]

http://www.bupa.co.uk/

You have a fully-funded health system, don't you?

[CarlMetro]

You have a fully-funded health system, don't you?

In theory you are correct, however in reality it is severely under-funded and under-staffed. If I need to see a specialist or have an operation I want it to happen now, not some point in the future. I made my decision to pay for private health insurance after waiting 3 and half years for a hernia operation, only to have it cancelled three times because of lack of bed space.

[LeonBrooke]

In theory you are correct, however in reality it is severely under-funded and under-staffed. If I need to see a specialist or have an operation I want it to happen now, not some point in the future. I made my decision to pay for private health insurance after waiting 3 and half years for a hernia operation, only to have it cancelled three times because of lack of bed space.

Fair enough then. In New Zealand we have free secondary, tertiary and quaternary care (i.e. hospital stays), but we pay for primary care (i.e. GP visits) and dental care, unless it takes place at a hospital.

Recently the ministry of health sent a decree down that all people on surgery waiting lists had to have their operations within six months. The response? the
hospitals half the people on the waiting lists off to back to their GPs.

I've never been one to moan about the health system. I think we don't properly appreciate what we get. It isn't easy to run the system with such comparatively scarce resources and I'm impressed they manage it at all. We don't have to like it, but we shouldn't moan about it. We should realise the limitations, and not enough people do this.

[tinchote]

I've never been one to moan about the health system. I think we don't properly appreciate what we get. It isn't easy to run the system with such comparatively scarce resources and I'm impressed they manage it at all. We don't have to like it, but we shouldn't moan about it. We should realise the limitations, and not enough people do this.

That's true. But having lived in two very different countries like Argentina and Canada, I feel that in Canada - with way more resources - a lot of money is wasted.

[BDunnell]

The NHS can only afford to offer basic mass-produced foods to patients. It's designed solely to meet patients need for food, not to titillate their taste buds with a range of exotic fayre.

I do tend to agree with you. However, there is a problem if the food is badly-made and unhealthy, which some hospital food certainly is. I don't think it helps that so much catering inhospitals is now handled by external contractors who have to cater for various different establishments at once without scope for much variety in what's offered, and with the aim of churning it all out quickly and cheaply.

[LeonBrooke]

That's true. But having lived in two very different countries like Argentina and Canada, I feel that in Canada - with way more resources - a lot of money is wasted.

That's fair enough. I think it's fair to get frustrated at those who allocate the money to health, education etc., but it's foolish and pointless to get angry at those who allocate money within those departments.

In NZ people have been getting angry at the health system because there aren't enough nurses/surgeons/anaesthetists. this is absolutely stupid because the staff just don't exist. The shortages are because people aren't entering the professions, and the public just don't understand this.

Sorry for the rant :s mokin:

[LotusElise]

I do tend to agree with you. However, there is a problem if the food is badly-made and unhealthy, which some hospital food certainly is.

Surely good, nutritious food would aid recovery in many cases and might even free up a few beds. It doesn't have to be expensive either, especially with the buying power of massive catering companies.

[Hazell B]

That's what I was trying to say Lotus.

They gave Mick roughly the size of salad that you'd put in a small sandwich and yet he's expected to get over an operation on that. The tray it came on was chipped and dirty - a sure way to spread nasty bugs about.

There is no way our local NHS is getting value for money from their supplier. However, so few companies want to supply something so big, I guess the NHS had little choice when they signed for the service.

It's common for families to bring extra food in for those in hospital here. I just wish they'd told me that!

[LeonBrooke]

Surely good, nutritious food would aid recovery in many cases and might even free up a few beds. It doesn't have to be expensive either, especially with the buying power of massive catering companies.

You're quite right. False economy, innit?

But I think that hospital food is bland and not very nice in order to avoid offending anyone.

[BDunnell]

Surely good, nutritious food would aid recovery in many cases and might even free up a few beds. It doesn't have to be expensive either, especially with the buying power of massive catering companies.

Indeed. But these large contractors seem unable to deliver it, whether in hospitals or schools. There is a widespread assumption that people in the UK are happy with crap food, so there's no point giving them anything better — this is why Bernard Matthews is still in business, and why the catering at many major outdoor events is absolutely appalling.

[Geecee27]

I didnt really give this much attention when it first appeared but i have had the misfortune recently to spend some time in hospital with the prospect of numerous extended return trips a certainty.

The first night i was in hospital i was given a vegetable curry which was plonked onto a table on the opposite side of my room from my bed! I had to get up and walk across the room to get it myself(i was in the bed for a reason for crying out loud!!!) It was absolutely stone cold and completely unedible. Even the (underpaid overworked) nursing staff acknowledge how dreadful the food is and encouraged my parents to bring in decent food for me.

On several occasions during my stay i went down to the canteen for some decent food and came up with an idea. Why not give patients the option to pay to have food brought up from the canteen instead?

Rant over!

[Iain]

Having experienced hospital food for the first time ever yesterday evening and this morning, I have no complaints to make. I'd had nothing to eat since 5pm on Friday evening and was very grateful for the (actually quite nice) baked potato and beans which I had for dinner last night. And the numerous cups of tea, followed by toast before bedtime. They tend to do continental style breakfasts now, but a slice of wholemeal bread with some spread on it was enough for me, as I was still not that hungry after what I'd been through. :)