Caterers react to NHS shake-up

Hospital caterers have expressed some misgivings about Government plans to improve hospital food, which will involve a 24-hour service and a new menu devised by a panel of chefs headed up by TV personality Loyd Grossman.

Morgan was "amazed and stunned" that the panel included no dieticians or NHS professionals who understood the clinical needs of patients and the tight margins operating in hospitals. He felt Grossman lacked credibility in the public health sector.

His concern was shared by Sandra Roberts, treasurer for the Hospital Caterers' Association, who feared the current panel faced "a huge learning curve". Wilson Barry, managing director of Sodexho Healthcare, thought including a contracting representative would also have provided a broader mix.

Morgan said NHS Trusts could only afford to spend £2 per patient for three meals a day and that many could not afford the going rate for good chefs, so their kitchens lacked the expertise and ability to produce finer cuisine. He added that many ill or elderly patients preferred food they were used to, such as sloppy cottage pie.

Morgan's views that plans to trial a new NHS menu before April 2001 were unrealistic were reflected by Barry, who commented, "I hope the emphasis is not being put on speed rather than quality."

Roberts and Morgan both questioned the demand for a 24-hour food service, which they suspected could prove "astronomically expensive". Chris Gray, managing director of Compass Healthcare, agreed it would prove "a tall challenge" that would "test our creativity".

Roberts felt that, while food should be available out-of-hours for patients who had missed meals, the real issue was helping sick people to eat and dealing with the increasing numbers entering hospital with malnutrition.

Barry also wanted to know how any changes would affect organisations who had priced and put together services under PFI contracts that could run for up to 25 years.

Gray, however, was delighted by the celebrity appointments, saying they would help raise the profile of hospital food and consumer confidence.

"Whether it (the initiative) releases money or helps suggest new ways of spending money more wisely, it can only be an improvement," he said. He had no doubt the panel would find things to criticise in his and other firms' operations, but said this could only improve standards.