Hospital food report reveals ‘astonishing' failures

Half of hospital patients in the UK do not receive food at the right temperature, and 27% of meals delivered in hospitals are not what patients asked for, according to new research.

The authors of the Patient Experience Survey 2002 described the results as revealing "an astonishing failure rate, especially since many technologies and delivery options exist which should guarantee better results than this".

Overall, the survey found that food provision met or exceeded expectations in 81% of cases, while only 19% were disappointed with their food. There was a trend towards increased satisfaction with increasing age. The report said it was not clear whether this was due to more modest expectations or less ability to discriminate flavour and smell. About 60% of patients felt that food was well presented all of the time.

Nearly 40% felt the choice of food available was limited. Traditional British food was preferred by more than two-thirds of patients, while the next most popular styles were Chinese (26%) and Italian (20%).

Only 35% of patients were aware of celebrity chefs' involvement in menu planning and, of those, fewer than half thought it had led to improvements.

The survey, commissioned by Sodexho Healthcare and the Patients Association, was based on 2,139 completed questionnaires from 29 NHS trust hospitals across England. Catering at the hospitals was either in-house or provided by Sodexho.

by Ben Walker