Dispatches - Hospital food .. ungrateful?

[// arcadia]

It's all very well saying people shouldn't be moaning when your food was ok! I don't think the boys with CF where moaning i think they where making a pretty valid point, they NEED good food to live and they weren't getting it. It wasn't moaning it was just highlighting an issue of many.

 

[tallybee]

I havnt read all the thread but I was more than impressed mine had some gluten free food for me!

Apparently the specialist diet stuff can be way better than the regular stuff (more attentionHAS to be paid to it?)

I've heard of people who actually say they're vegetarian as the veggie options are known to be far nicer
x

 

[AppleBlossom]

I've only ever been in hospital once when I was having Grace. The food was quite yummy actually lol. It's not hard to provide decent food, but I don't think it should be high on their priority list

 

[tallybee]

Aye but it's not hard to make food that's basic and palatable and not overcooked, watery, manky. It doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg, it just needs a little bit of intelligent attention

 

[Kte]

The food on the maternity ward was very tasty! However if it hadn't of been, my visitors brought lots of food in for me anyway so I don't think its a huge issue, something that should be too focused on. It shouldn't be ignored but not top priority! I guess its more of an issue for those with dietry requirements and things like that should be focued on too.

 

[Tasha]

But there are many people without family, and those are usually the ones who are ill rather than having a baby.

I totally forgot about Feb 2009 when I was in hospital for anaemia (my hb was 3), not one thing was rich in iron. I kept getting told I was close to a heart attack and needed iron, but the food just didnt supply that. I was lucky family helped but was feeling worse and worse so discharged myself. A little old lady in for the same reason, didnt have any visitors whilst I was there, couldnt walk far enough to discharge herself, so what were her options? And why shouldnt the food that could make all the difference in her living or dying (sounds OTT but there is only so much pressure the heart can take, that low iron makes it work incredibly hard) not be a high priority?

 

[sapphire20]

I do think think its quite a big issue, its ok for us who are in and out of hospital in a few days to say its not great but we could put up with it, or that outside family friends can take in food for us,

but honestly think of those poor souls who have no friends and family and are stuck in hospital for weeks on end, surely they have a right to food that tastes decent and is nutritional.

fair enough hospitals are there to care for people, and most of them do this well, but as others have said it isnt hard to make a decent baked tattie or plate of stew.

my experience of hospital food wasnt great, if i didnt have family taking food in for me I would have rather starved!

 

[Hayley90]

I think its an issue in terms of what Tasha said ^ I think the meals should be more thought-out, with calories and portions measured properly. As well as vitamins and minerals calculated so they can target the right people with the right meals.

When i was in hosp having Harrison, i was quite pleased with the food... i mean, it wasnt great but i didnt expect it to be like the Ivy. it was a bit stodgy, but it was edible... I was lucky people bought food in for me, or went down to the cafe so i had snacks.

x

 

[sparkle_1979]

I didnt watch it and can see what your saying, though I do think it should be slightly more healthy. when I was in it was sausage roll and chips, pizza and chips and it just left me feeling pretty grossed out, so maybe a few more vegtables

 

[Rhi_Rhi1]

I think when someone has to spend along time in hospital it would be nice for a GOOD quality of food to be available! .. i am a vegetarian so i can't really speak for anyone else but the hospital menu tends to offer me more options then many 5 * places i have eaten! ! ahah just the breakfast choices i don't like but thats more me being a fussy eater then the food being bad... i don't like toast or tea or coffee or cereal ! lol x

 

[Jody R]

But there are many people without family, and those are usually the ones who are ill rather than having a baby.

I totally forgot about Feb 2009 when I was in hospital for anaemia (my hb was 3), not one thing was rich in iron. I kept getting told I was close to a heart attack and needed iron, but the food just didnt supply that. I was lucky family helped but was feeling worse and worse so discharged myself. A little old lady in for the same reason, didnt have any visitors whilst I was there, couldnt walk far enough to discharge herself, so what were her options? And why shouldnt the food that could make all the difference in her living or dying (sounds OTT but there is only so much pressure the heart can take, that low iron makes it work incredibly hard) not be a high priority?

You've made a really good point here, much better than my attempt to say it.

 

[Jody R]

I thought this link might be interesting to the discussion.

Heston Blumenthal has a new programme and he is going to be working to improve the food in a hospital.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodand...umenthal-fights-to-improve-hospital-food.html

I don't think it says it in this article but in the one I read earlier he was told by the head of catering in Alder Hay hospital where he filmed the show that they make 90% of the food fresh and from scratch.

But what the man didn't tell him is that the 90% figure came from food served to staff, to visitors to the cafes and to people at a wedding reception venue on site (I know!) but not to a single patient in the hospital.

Edit: It says it in this report too: https://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/col...ion-impossible-channel-4-9pm-115875-22939810/

 

[Rhi_Rhi1]

actually i just remembered the LAST time i was in they forgot to feed me ! ... and by the time i managed to sort it out they had ran out of food ! LMAO! - care at its best... they actually didn't care :/ so when u can get food in my hospital its lovely but if they forget to feed you .. TOUGH SHIT ! lol .... basically they had me pick my food, then moved me to a discharge unit.(wanted my bed lol) but my dinner got lost in the process... so i was sat in the discharge lounge, starved whilst everyone else was eating around me... they never sent mine down! i asked the lady at the desk and she rang up and said it wasn't there .. and i could have one of the spare ones and that was that .. ( i'm a vegetarian!!! ) so no dinner for me.. wouldn't be so bad cos i was going home but i hadn't had breakfast cos i had been off having tests and then to sit in a discharge lounge for FIVE HOURS ! it was infuriating cos i was fed up and hungry

 

[Kte]

True if people don't have family they would be stuck. The food on the maternity ward was healthy - things like shepards pie with veg etc lots of good food to boost energy etc and help. Its prob a thing again that varies from hospital to hospital. Also, I understand where you are coming from with the iron and iron rich foods should be supplied however, my colleague at work is on iron tablets becasue her body now struggles to absorb iron from food - she is still recommended to eat iron rich foods along with the tablets, so yes its would be more ideal to have food to compliment medication but it doesn't seem to work like that - I think what I am trying to say is, I guess it depends on what is wrong with each individual person and they are more than likely cater to the masses as such from a central point whereas each ward really should have their own section and match the patients needs better. One food for one won't be good for another.

 

[New2Bumps]

I don't think it's ungratefulness, I think it's a case of getting what we pay for. We are very lucky to have the nhs but we do all pay towards it (well, most of us) and a proportion of that money goes towards food so then I think it's right that food gets investigated. As part of this investigation, good practice is discovered and shared, making it fairer for all.

 

[SophiasMummy]

my food when i was stick postnatal for 5 days was amazing, i didnt want to leave it was so good

 

[Blah11]

i just watched.


in regards to feeding, the program is kind of eing really unrealistic. a healthcare assistant standing watching every patient eat? as if!

also in regards to helping patients eat, we do encourage independance. if the patient is unwell or cant feed themselves, of course we feed ut in general we try and leave patients to it. elderly people can become very institutionalised and oviously thats no good if they want to go home



oh i i think the journalist was totally over reacting screwing his face up when eating a pea

 

[Kte]

They prob personally didn' like pea's

I agree tho, you have to be careful how biased the programme is.

 

[Jody R]

They prob personally didn' like pea's

I agree tho, you have to be careful how biased the programme is.

I agree wtih you, any programme can be biased to the point it wants to make.

But when my friend was in hospital after her stroke they put her in a chair to let her eat lunch, left her alone even though she had lost the use of the left side of her body and while she was struggling to cope she fell forward and onto the floor. There was no way she would have been able to manage cutlery anyway so she shouldn't have been left at that stage.

And when my Nana had her stroke the lady in the bed next to her was suffering from dementia as well as having had a stroke. She was often left a drink that she couldn't reach and then they would come and say "didn't you want that?" and take it away again. When we realised that we tried to help her. Her family worked and couldn't be there in the day to help her themselves.

And when DH's grandma was there it was the same thing, we'd go to visit her and there would be a plate of cold food she hadn't been able to feed herself sitting on her bedside tray where someone had left it.

It's hard to see things like that and think the programme bias was completely wrong. Some patients really do need the most basic help to eat and drink and that care also needs to be improved along with the type and quality of meals on offer.

 

[Blah11]

idk how nurses like that live with themselves :\