Grossman reassures staff on hospital food

Television personality Loyd Grossman, appointed by the Government to raise the standard of hospital food, has tried to reassure hospital caterers that the seven restaurant chefs chosen to improve hospital meals had not been recruited to tell them what they were doing wrong.

"It was never intended they were going to arrive like the 7th Cavalry. They don't have experience of mass catering, but they can bring a fresh view to what you are doing," Grossman told the Hospital Caterers Conference in Newcastle last week.

He added that both he and his team of chefs were not taking part in a short-term exercise. "This is the biggest change to NHS catering since its inception," he said.

Grossman defended an accusation that chefs working in luxury restaurants could never understand the tight 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," he said.

The health service has been trying out 40 new recipes devised by the Grossman team in 12 hospitals, and patient surveys have indicated that 70% thought the new food was good or excellent.

When one member of the audience suggested that knowing what the disapproving 30% thought of the new menus might offer would provide an insight into problems of hospital food, Grossman said he did not want to get bogged down in the 70-30 issue. "You could talk about that all night," he said.

By Bob Gledhill