Grossman defends hospital food taskforce

Television personality Loyd Grossman, appointed by the Government to help raise the standard of hospital food, has defended the work of his team of seven restaurant chefs. Grossman told this week's Hospital Caterers' Conference in Newcastle that the chefs he had chosen to revamp hospital menus had not been recruited to tell hospital caterers what they were doing wrong. "It was never intended they were going to arrive like the 7^th Cavalry. They don't have experience of mass catering. But they can bring a fresh view to what you are doing." Neither was the appointment of himself and his team of chefs going to be a short-term exercise, he claimed: "This is the biggest change to NHS catering since its inception." Grossman also defended an accusation that chefs working in luxury restaurants could never understand the strangling budgets NHS caterers had to work with. "They are all aware of financial constraints, they all know about budgets. You can't be a successful chef and not be aware of budgets." The NHS has been trialling 40 new recipes devised by the Grossman team in 12 hospitals and 70% of patients surveyed have rated the new food as good or excellent. Hospital caterers also learned at the conference that all hospitals would be required to serve their main meal of the day in the evening and not at lunchtime as many do at the moment. The change, along with the provision of ward kitchens and a "snackbox" from which patients can request something to eat at any time, must be brought in by the end of the year. The announcement came from Kate Priestley, chief executive of NHS Estates. Many delegates were unhappy with the plan, arguing that it was hard to get kitchen staff on low wages to work in the evening in city centres. But Priestley said the Government would not budge on the December deadline. Hospital food had to reflect modern eating patterns, which were a light breakfast, a light lunch and a main meal in the evening. by Bob Gledhill](mailto:bob.gledhill@rbi.co.uk) Web links: [NHS](http://www.doh.gov.uk/) [National Menu Plan](http://www.betterhospitalfood.com/) [Hospital Caterers' Association