NHS: Not Healthy Scoff

HOSPITAL dinners are packed with more saturated fat than a fit adult should eat in an entire DAY, a study has found.

Sick patients in scores of NHS hospitals are also being served meals loaded with salt, which experts warn are jeopardising their health.

The findings emerged from a study of 35 hospital meals served in at least 80 NHS trusts in England.

Most would have been banned in hospitals in Scotland and Wales, where there are strict nutritional guidelines.

Five of the meals — three types of triple cheese pizzas, cannelloni and lasagne — contained more than 25g of saturated fat, which clogs arteries and increases the risk of strokes and heart disease.

The recommended daily limit for healthy women is 20g, while it’s no more than 30g for men.

Another 27 meals had such high levels of salt and fat they would be deemed unfit for patients in Scotland and Wales.

Health Minister Simon Burns declared earlier this year that it was up to individual trusts to provide nutritious food.

But Alex Jackson of the Campaign for Better Hospital Food, which analysed the meals, said: “Hospital meals should be seen as the simplest form of medicine.

“Setting standards for hospital food would improve its quality, make it healthy to eat and put patients on the road to recovery.”

29 August 2012
By EMMA LITTLE, Health & Science Editor