Dispatches - Hospital food .. ungrateful?

[Charlotteee]

And also, when i miscarried, i couldnt get a sick note when i had my week off as they only give you one after a week of being off, so i lost out on a weeks wages as i couldnt get a sick note xx

 

[Tegans Mama]

I've only ever had first hand experience with the food in two places, both the same "campus" of hospitals (they are teaching hospitals so spread out over a space of 2.5 square miles). I had Tegan in the maternity hospital and the food is RANK. Really disgusting stuff. I starved for the 4 days I was in there after my section and the several weeks I spent in there whilst pregnant. However, the childrens hospital is a whole other ball game. The food in there is lovely. I don't have a single complaint about it. It does really annoy me when the parents of the sick kids expect to be fed aswell though!!

There are a lot of services that could be improved by the NHS though. I think having to pay for food in hospitals would cause big problems because people who can't afford it would simply avoid getting adequate healthcare. BUT money from an NHS service that is more than adequate in some places and inadequate in others should be spread evenly and the food should be equal in all hospitals. If the NHS are gonna be throwing money at certain bits, there are a few places I can think of where it is needed. Wheelchair services is a complete joke - I have first hand experience of having a paraplegic toddler who cannot get herself around but she has been waiting over 6 months for a wheelchair which will likely need to be readjusted when it finally arrives because kids tend to grow in 6 months. Mental health services is another - people are suffering and being tipped over the metaphorical edge just because the NHS does not have the resources to save someones life.

 

[Tasha]

M we didn't complain because we didn't really think about it. Looking back we should of but we knew she was dying when weeks before she was fit (ish). So traumatic enough if you kwim? I completely agree about them being provided with people to take their time and feed them, something so small can mean so much but also make a huge difference in terms of recovery too.

Charlotte, I think most people get more out than they put in, tbh. Thirty pound to see a dentist is still subsidised by the NHS, seven quid per drug on presacription again subsidised as much drugs cost more, sometimes a lot more. Seeing a doctor you don't pay a fee for. I don't think we realise how much we do get. So whilst I understand what your saying, I don't think a slap up meal should be expected. I am sorry you lost money when you had your miscarriage, it is a hard enough time without money worries

 

[marie73]

I've only ever had first hand experience with the food in two places, both the same "campus" of hospitals (they are teaching hospitals so spread out over a space of 2.5 square miles). I had Tegan in the maternity hospital and the food is RANK. Really disgusting stuff. I starved for the 4 days I was in there after my section and the several weeks I spent in there whilst pregnant. However, the childrens hospital is a whole other ball game. The food in there is lovely. I don't have a single complaint about it. It does really annoy me when the parents of the sick kids expect to be fed aswell though!!

There are a lot of services that could be improved by the NHS though. I think having to pay for food in hospitals would cause big problems because people who can't afford it would simply avoid getting adequate healthcare. BUT money from an NHS service that is more than adequate in some places and inadequate in others should be spread evenly and the food should be equal in all hospitals. If the NHS are gonna be throwing money at certain bits, there are a few places I can think of where it is needed. Wheelchair services is a complete joke - I have first hand experience of having a paraplegic toddler who cannot get herself around but she has been waiting over 6 months for a wheelchair which will likely need to be readjusted when it finally arrives because kids tend to grow in 6 months. Mental health services is another - people are suffering and being tipped over the metaphorical edge just because the NHS does not have the resources to save someones life.

I agree regarding wheelchair services - the hospice I work at has a waiting list for wheelchairs due to the poor NHS service. Can imagine how frustrating it is waiting for one for your lo. And mental health services have different definitions for the word urgent - usually about 6 weeks!

 

[Blah11]

I remember being in hospital and starving for 3 days because the food was really unpleasant.

At the end of the day i pay Tax and National Insurance (which is for things like hospitals). My national insurance is approx £600 a year, and for the amount of times i use the hospital £600 a year better get me a bloody 3 course slap up meal.

Whats the point in paying £600 a year for something i hardly use, (i still pay for my prescriptions so NI is pointless again) and get shit treatment and meals when i'm in there

x

Thats a really crap way of thinking charlotte. The NHS is there when and if you need it. You clearly have no idea how much a hospital bed costs. If you fall and break your arm or leg badly and need an operation, your hospital stay will cost thousands and thousands The best thing about the NHS is that everyone gets treated the same and no one needs to worry about getting a huge bill cos they get cancer or have a baby. I will happily keep contributing my £600 a year or whatever for that.

 

[Blah11]

An area I'd like to see improved is ambulance services. Countless times we haven't been able to get a patient to a clinic appointment or scan because theres not been an ambulance to take us so we've had to use a taxi which must cost the NHS LOADS. Also, we've had patients ready to go home and we can't get an ambulance to take them so they have to stay in another day and take up a bed they don't need.
Another area is the community and social work. There's not enough social workers and waiting 3 months for a patient who is fit and well to go home, to get a package of care is ridiculous.

 

[aob1013]

I don't think any section is more deserving either.

I cba to go deep deep deep deep into this, it was just a quick thought going through my head that it seemed a tad ungrateful for people to be moaning about the standard of hospital food.

I do think it should be a certain standard of course I do. My Grandad fell and broke his neck on a bus a few years ago and spent 3 months in hospital before he died and his food wasn't all that great but he was just thankful for being treated for his injuries. Food should always be edible, but not something I think the nhs should be making a hoo har out of.

I think you've missed the point that Eternal Rose and I are trying to make. Nutrition is a big deal for many patients and malnutrition costs the NHS huge amounts of money in extended hospital stays, additional costs etc. If nutrition was improved for all patients, including staff being available to feed patients etc., there would be more money available for all the other important areas of NHS spending. I think we've both seen the results of malnutrition and it's difficult to forget.

I haven't missed the point in what i was referring to. As i've said quite a few times i am in agreement with you that it should be edible, nutritious, tasty .. all those basic human needs, but not much more.

 

[tallybee]

I can see both sides - no we should not be expecting free gourmet but it needs to be decent. I'd rather they provided nothing (cost free, ppl provide own food) than turds on a plate that no-one can eat (expensive waste, no matter how much of the cost has been squeezed out).

What a lot of people fail to grasp is the extent to which decent nutrition actually contributes to health and well-being, and people hogging beds for longer because of not getting well enough to go home because of not getting decent nutrition ..... it becomes rather circular and surely pointless

Some folk have no family to bring food, and are too frail to just get up and go to the canteen. Clearly the system's crap and needs looked at, but to say that it's ungrateful to say hospital food needs improved is simplistic and gets us nowhere IMO.

 

[marie73]

I don't think any section is more deserving either.

I cba to go deep deep deep deep into this, it was just a quick thought going through my head that it seemed a tad ungrateful for people to be moaning about the standard of hospital food.

I do think it should be a certain standard of course I do. My Grandad fell and broke his neck on a bus a few years ago and spent 3 months in hospital before he died and his food wasn't all that great but he was just thankful for being treated for his injuries. Food should always be edible, but not something I think the nhs should be making a hoo har out of.

I think you've missed the point that Eternal Rose and I are trying to make. Nutrition is a big deal for many patients and malnutrition costs the NHS huge amounts of money in extended hospital stays, additional costs etc. If nutrition was improved for all patients, including staff being available to feed patients etc., there would be more money available for all the other important areas of NHS spending. I think we've both seen the results of malnutrition and it's difficult to forget.

I haven't missed the point in what i was referring to. As i've said quite a few times i am in agreement with you that it should be edible, nutritious, tasty .. all those basic human needs, but not much more.

So the journalist was not being ungrateful just justifiably pointing out the dire quality of the food he (and all the other patients) were receiving which was clearly none of those things. When he was interviewed on BBC Breakfast yesterday he was extremely grateful for the excellent medical and nursing care he received but the standard of food needs to improve to complement that care. Unfortunately it seems that the media need to become involved to address areas of poor practice in the NHS, whether that be care or food.

 

[Aidan's Mummy]

I've just watched it and the standard of food was shocking x

 

[marie73]

I've just watched it and the standard of food was shocking x

When I was a sister on a ward 5 years ago the food was loads better than that. It was hot and nutritious but people still used to moan as it was too adventurous for them!! Saying that it was cooked in the hospital kitchen not in a factory in South Wales and reheated on the ward. What about the liver and bacon? Gross! And the lasagne looked like something you find on the pavement from a dodgy dog!

 

[moomoo]

In my local hospital the food was actually quite nice!!! Although the portions were tiny? (we were on a childrens ward tho?)

 

[Barbles]

I started watching this but my girly got up so I missed most of it, will look out for a repeat.

My only experience of eating hosptial food is after I had my daughter. It was New Years day so I had a turkey roast and chocolate sponge pudding. And it went down a treat! Maybe it was because it was the first hot meal I had eaten in two days but it was lovely. Oh was longingly looking at it whilst munching his vending machine sandwich.

When I was 15 I did work experience in my local hospitals catering dept and the food all looked good then, they did cater to individual patients needs etc as far as I could remember and it all looked delicious. Though this was nearly 10 years ago so a lot could have changed since then.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

I was so happy when I moved to the birthing unit and had real food lol!

 

[Aidan's Mummy]

I've just watched it and the standard of food was shocking x

When I was a sister on a ward 5 years ago the food was loads better than that. It was hot and nutritious but people still used to moan as it was too adventurous for them!! Saying that it was cooked in the hospital kitchen not in a factory in South Wales and reheated on the ward. What about the liver and bacon? Gross! And the lasagne looked like something you find on the pavement from a dodgy dog!

Ugh that lasagne made me feel sick I wouldn't eat it either. He needed nutrion for his body to mend and they weren't providing that x

 

[Laura2919]

Before I was transferred to the hospital where the twins were born I was in a hospital a bit further away from my home and when they asked me to fill out what I wanted for dinner they gave me a big meal for lunch and a sandwich for dinner. I thought this was weird lol

 

[sarahchops86]

I havent watched it yet but will later, our local hospital had decent food- you could pick from different main choices and sides etc and even could order different portion sizes depending on your appetite. If the food is edible and nutritious thats fine I think thats all anyone can ask for but from what ive read on this thread that basic is lacking in some areas

 

[Dragonfly]

Is it just me or is anyone else finding this a tad ungrateful?

Hospitals are not about feeding people, they are about caring. We are so fricking lucky in this country to have what we have .. i think we should appreciate it a little more .. moaning over hospital food? Whatever next!

I havnt read all the thread but I was more than impressed mine had some gluten free food for me! cereal and bread so unlike I thought where i wouldn't get catered for I did both times I was in and when I in and missed the dinners staff went and made me what i wanted and it was ok. Are some hospitals not for human consumption? Maybe there are some worse than others mine was just ok. Spuds could have been nicer, we take are spuds here in Ireland seriously.

 

[teeniestep]

Nutrition in the diet is a big part of getting better when being ill so of course the standard of the food and the way the patients are fed is a big deal! When I was in hospital 6 years ago (Children's ward) the food portions were tiny but of good standard but then I seen when my family were in the same place and the food looked disgusting! We shouldn't just have to put up with crap food!

 

[Jody R]

I think it's important for people in hospital to have good food to eat.

I know it's not meant to be a michelin star restaurant experience but people who are sick need to eat as well as they can to help them get better.

And I don't mean they should be eating steak and lobster, just that the food they do serve needs to be appetising and cooked properly.

When I was in and out of hospital they offered a good choice on the menu but when it came it was often overcooked, mushy, cold and looked horrible.

I know it might sound ungrateful to say so but I'm sure most people would rather have a hot bowl of tinned soup than a cold roast dinner cooked to mush and congealed into a lump, and the soup would be cheaper and easier for them to offer.

I was only in for a few days at a time and after the first stay I made sure I packed a lot of juice cartons, biscuits, cereal bars and fruit of my own and gave my family strict instructions to bring me sandwiches when they came to visit.

But if someone were in for a long time, particularly children who can be fussy about eating anyway, they need a meal that they will like and want to eat.