Hospital Caterers Association joins campaign for hospital food standards
The Hospital Caterers Association today announced its support for the Campaign for Better Hospital Food [1] which is calling for the introduction of mandatory standards for all patient meals in England.
Their decision to support the campaign was taken at the Hospital Caterers Association’s [2] annual conference in Newport, where hospital caterers from across Britain gathered to discuss new ways to improve patient meals.
The Hospital Caterers Association joins ninety one other organisations which are supporting the campaign [3] including Age UK, British Heart Foundation, the Royal College of Physicians, the National Federation of Women’s Institutes and Which?
The Association represents over 400 members who are responsible for preparing and serving many of the 500 million meals served to patients in Britain each year. It is calling for a number of changes to hospital food, including the introduction of a mandatory minimum expenditure on all patient meals, and for more help for patients who find it difficult to eat. This includes calling on the government to make it mandatory for all hospitals to have protected mealtimes, a system which ensures patients are able to eat their meals without disruption [4]. The Department of Health has reacted to concerns about the wildly different amounts spent by hospitals on patient food by indicating it will carry out an investigation in to the matter [5].
The Hospital Caterers Association gives its backing to the Campaign for Better Hospital Food ahead of the introduction of a hospital food Bill to the House of Lords in May 2013 which, if successful, will require all hospitals to meet mandatory ‘good food’ standards.
In recent months the Association for Medical Royal Colleges [6] and the British Medical Association [7] have also announced their support for the introduction of nutritional standards for hospital food.
Alex Jackson, Co-ordinator of the Campaign for Better Hospital Food, said: “It’s hugely important to us that hospital caterers from across England, who are doing the difficult job of cooking patient meals, believe in what we’re doing and want to support us. No one is more passionate about improving hospital food than the Hospital Caterers Association and its members”.
Andy Jones, Chair of the Hospital Caterers Association, said: “Food should be seen as a key part of the recovery programme because food and beverages are the best form of medicine. However to achieve this we need to ensure that we, as hospital caterers, own the whole service to ensure that the food we cook is served to patients immediately. The patient should then be allowed the opportunity to consume their food without interruption and, where required, given assistance to eat. We need to ensure that the recommendations of the Francis Report are driven through without question.”
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For more information please contact:
Hazel Green at the HCA Press Office Tel: 01932 253184 / Mobile: 07950 007169 or by email at HaGreen7@aol.com or
Alex Jackson on Tel: 0203 5596 777 / Mob: 07734 902909, or by email at alex@sustainweb.org
Notes to editor
[1] Campaign for Better Hospital Food www.hospitalfood.og.uk
[2] Hospital Caterers Association http://www.hospitalcaterers.org/.
About the Hospital Caterers Association (HCA)
Founded over 60 years ago, the Hospital Caterers Association (HCA) was one of the first professional associations to be formed within the National Health Service. It represents almost 400 senior health care catering managers and dietitians who provide a wide range of food services for patients, visitors and staff in NHS hospitals and health care facilities nationwide. With over 250 NHS hospitals represented in its membership and 17 HCA branches throughout the UK, the HCA network is the single largest group of health care catering providers within the NHS.
With over 300 million meals served every year and around £500 million spent on food annually by around 300 NHS Trust across approximately 1200 hospitals, the NHS is the UK catering industry’s largest provider of meals. The HCA’s network of members is responsible for the jobs of 35,000 people, 80% of which are hospital chefs and kitchen based staff. Amongst its Associate membership are over 100 suppliers who are responsible for the provision of millions of pounds worth of food, beverages, services and equipment to the hospital catering sector.
[3] A list of supporting organisations is available at https://www.sustainweb.org/hospitalfood/organisations/.
[4] Royal College of Nursing, http://www.rcn.org.uk/development/practice/nutrition/improvement_actions/protected_mealtimes
[5] NHS spends more on hospital food but significant variation remains, 17 October 2012, Inside Government section of www.gov.uk
[6] Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, Measuring Up report, 18 February 2013
http://www.aomrc.org.uk/publications/reports-a-guidance.html.
[7] Healthy food demanded for hospitals and schools, British Medical Association, 15 March 2013, http://bma.org.uk/news-views-analysis/news/2013/march/healthy-good-demanded-by-hospitals-and-schools
Published Wednesday 1 May 2013
Better Hospital Food: The campaign represents a coalition of organisations calling on the Westminster government to introduce mandatory nutritional, environmental and ethical standards for food served to patients in NHS hospitals in England.
