Dispatches - Hospital food .. ungrateful?

[BlackBerry25]

Didn't read the whole thread, but I know when I was in the hospital after having Helena, I needed a non fat dinner and they brought me a burger. I couldn't eat it, so I didn't have dinner.

 

[midori1999]

I have never found hospital food that bad tbh. Ok, it's not great, but it's certainly more than edible and especially recently when I have been in hospital, there have always been about 5 choices or more. The maternity ward at our hospital have a breakfast room where Mum's can help themselves to cereal, toast, fruit juice, fruit and tea and coffee and fruit or tea and coffee throughout the day.

The main problem I have found is portion sizes, but I do eat a lot, I am sure what they gave me was adequate.

It's fine to say 'we pay for it', but although hospital treatment isn't really free, we don't really pay for it either. Most get far more out than they put in. I dread to think how much it cost to support my baby girl in NICU and I would much rather see money put into things like that and getting 1 to 1 care for babie sin NICU that on hospital food.

 

[iceylou]

i was in hospital a few yrs back for kidney stones for 4 days. private room and all paid for by my insurance company. total cost 9,000 euro including all xrays, blood tests, etc, actually thought i had none left they took so much .

the food was bad as well, chips, sausages, frozen fish, ham sandwich (yes just 1), 1 weetabix, 2 biscuits. my nephew brought me up dinners and mcdonalds

 

[Kte]

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.

I know what you mean, the comment was aimed more at the presenter picking at the food - comments by genuine patients are fair enough.

Also, that is appauling what happened to your friend, DH's grandma and the woman next to your Nana

 

[NuKe]

i didnt expect fabulous food, but realistically it ISNT more expensive to make things healthy and tasty! the food i had was yummy!!

 

[Morgenstern]

when i had gryphon they were supposed to give us a steak and baked potatoe for new parents as a celebration thing but they never did. i ended up having pork chops which i dont mind but a nice thick juicy steak would have been even nicer.

 

[Blah11]

anyone watching the heston thing?

Baffles me as to why they feed the kids such unhealthy food

 

[AppleBlossom]

anyone watching the heston thing?

Baffles me as to why they feed the kids such unhealthy food

I am. Fried and canned foods aren't great at the best of times, but sick kids need fresh food like fruit/veg to help them get better. Potato waffles are hardly going to make them feel fantastic!

 

[Blah11]

the staff canteen at my hosp is nicer than the patients food tbh. I've never really thought about why that is

 

[Blah11]

wtf heston

 

[Harveysmum369]

The childrens ward in the Norfolk and Norwich wasn't too bad for unhealthy food...to be fair Harvey decided he would only eat picky bits(vegie fingers,chips-anything that he could easily get) and as he was so ill it was a blessing when he ate anything...however,there was always a good selection of healthy food,always veg on the trolley.xxx

 

[Blah11]

Amelie would quite happily live on pasta so I don't need to worry about her eating veg or not as I can hide loads of it in her pasta! She asks for baked potato and beans or pasta every single night haha

 

[joshiesmum]

im a nurse and work on an elderly care ward with confused old men!!!! our food is quite good on our ward we have loadsa choices!!! thats how it should be!! esp for the elderly its soooo important for them to have decent meals. i love my lil men on my ward their all ace n so cute!! i love feeding them too it made me bad when i saw that man feeding the old man and he said to him "do u speak english" i was having an argument with me tele!!! xxx

 

[helen1234]

food given in hospitals need to be nutricious or people wont get better,

 

[Srrme]

The food in the hospital I was in was delicious.

 

[ellie]

Prob already been said lol but there is loads of research into the effect of nutrition on recovery and it is a MASSIVE factor in whether and how well/quickly people recover. So it is actually really important. However I do agree that some people seem to expect restaurant type food in hospital which is unrealistic - doesnt mean it couldnt be better though!
Although Im not sure about the Heston Bloomineck latest 'experiement' making worm pizza and fennel lollipops for sick kids ......... now that wouldnt help you if you were trying to recover surely
He did make a good point though, that in some hospitals way more resources go into a fab menu for staff and visitors, than the patients ... now switching that around would be a simple way to make big changes without costing more!

 

[Georgie90]

I agree and disagree…ok, it’s not about the food, its making people better – BUT – what about the people who don’t come out of hospital? Do they deserve to just live off slop? My granddad was in hospital very recently, and OH’s gran, isn’t going to come out of hospital – she will not eat 90% of the things they give her because it is slop – its vile. So, she was just wasting away – we take her home cooked meals in now, but they have to be luke warm as hospitals wont warm things up!

I spent a long time in hospital for a food disorder, so was fed through a tube for 3 months but when they wanted to wean me back onto ‘real food’ there was no way I was eating it – it’s not food, its slop, there’s no taste to any of it either. Again, Mum used to bring food into me. I understand we should be grateful, and we are lucky to get treatment for free, but people won’t get better with unhealthy, un-nutritional food.

 

[Floralaura]

I was admitted to hospital last week for a few days..I was nil by mouth until the last day so only had a brekkie and a dinner when there but others on my ward were eating..he food was fab. Even tho I was nil by mouth every morning i had to fil out that days menus choices and there were good choices toast/cereal/porridge/juices for brekkie ham/tuna salad/jacket spud/pasta dish for lunch and a roast/fish/pasta/salad choice for tea..or you could write on the sheets if you wanted something that was not on the sheet and they would sort it. I had bran flakes and then mince beef pie, mash and veg when i was there and after days of not eating my god it was good! I was with a lady who was elderly and had cancer who didnt want to eat and the nurses really did try and help her by asking if there was anything she fancied and then doing their best to sort it and then coming back through the day to offer cheese/crackers/sandwiches etc to those who hadnt eaten..it really does seem to be luck of the draw as I cant fault my local hospital (which is good as im back in a couple of weeks as a inpatient lol)

 

[flubdub]

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 totally agree.

The food in our hospital is absolutely frickin fantastic though!! The best I'd had for a while and always had a great veggie option!

 

[louandivy]

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 totally agree.

The food in our hospital is absolutely frickin fantastic though!! The best I'd had for a while and always had a great veggie option!

ps: wheres your siggies gone? x

AOB'S been banned!