Letters
Food needs to be a priority for NHS…
I am delighted that the subject of food has not been omitted from the Government's NHS improvements (Caterer, 3 August, page 4).
My husband has just spent five weeks at the Bristol Royal Infirmary after complications following a heart operation.
The food was appalling. There was a choice (which I am told is a great improvement), but even the brown bread tasted so awful that he had to revert to white. The only meal I tasted was roast pork and roast potatoes; the pork tasted like leather, the potatoes like cotton wool and the gravy was akin to pond water.
The NHS spends a fortune on medicines and on doctors and nurses, all of whom did an absolutely superb job. But I cannot believe that the food, which should be an integral part of the recuperation plan, is neither appetising nor nutritious. I am told that £1.50 is allocated per patient per meal.
With competition among contract caterers so intense, there must be someone willing and able to improve on the present situation.
Rosemary Inge, Somerset.
Healthy attitude improves service
It is no surprise that Service Watch identifies higher service standards in Scotland and the North (Caterer, 27 July, page 14).
This is probably an outcome of the lifestyle to be found in these communities. Local people with a healthy attitude to their lives will bring this to work. A positive outlook and friendly approach can give a more meaningful experience for the customer. In the north this comes naturally.
John Gallery, York.
…but how will it entice top chefs?
I read with fascination "The Regeneration Game" (Caterer, 10 August, page 22), and was pleased to see that the Government had based its plans on the "big numbers".
After some basic maths, I calculate that, with absolute efficiency and the generous additional money from the Government, we are left with 74.7p per meal - or, assuming that three meals a day will continue to be sufficient, £2.24 per day. What are our "leading chefs" going to make of that? By the way, you still need to pay for the ward beverages, biscuits, and so on. Additional money, or out of the above super-budget?
I accept that there is no excuse for poor service, and my team bends over backwards to respond to patients' needs. However, we are not a hotel, we are a hospital and people come to hospital to get better. Our experience shows that patients require peace and quiet, simple food and for the medical professionals to get on with their job.
I get incensed with statements made by the Government about how bad a job we are doing when the patients we care for write to the local press and ourselves on how much they have enjoyed the services provided.
Name and address withheld.
A positive approach to recruiting older staff
Ageism need not be a problem if colleagues would consider our example at the Crown hotel.
For the past two years we have pursued a positive discrimination policy in favour of older employees. When the issue is getting some staff or none, the notion of finding young staff to meet an image requirement is a non-starter. Measures we have introduced include:
Actually seeking older staff to fill specific vacancies
Creating a "buddy" system that helps younger and older staff treat each other as equals
A "senior moments" system whereby staff over the age of 40 with domestic obligations can take a non-standard break.
It all starts at the top. Our general manager is a 44-year-old who has returned to the industry after running his own successful business; our assistant manager is 59 - he could retire but does not want to; several of our part-time staff are women returners; and one lady is full-time and in her late 60s - she won't admit her real age!
Richard Stables, Crown hotel, Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire.
How road-works affect business
Andrew Radford stated that turnover at his Glasgow Blue Bar Café was dramatically cut in February 2000 when work on the surrounding streets kept business away (Caterer, 3 August, page 30).
Like most involved in the Highlands tourist industry we were delighted to learn only this week that the redevelopment of our Aviemore mountain resort district was finally to begin.
A conference and exhibition facility is to form the core of this redevelopment. We hope our restaurant and others in Aviemore will all benefit from the £35m of public funding that underpins these works.
In the short term, however, our restaurant sits adjacent to both a proposed roundabout site and a local public transport interchange site - which will surround us with a sea of substantial road-building and landscaping works.
Our freehold includes a considerable part of the area of the proposed roundabout, currently adopted by the Highland council for existing uses as road and pavement. We consider the restaurant to be vulnerable to any prolonged external shocks such as these road-works.
Ours is a scenario likely to be played out across the UK, as Government policy uses similar works to reduce car usage in cities and areas of scenic or environmental sensitivity.
Caterer readers have a huge collective knowledge in dealing with the legal, economic and trading impact of such public works, and we would welcome any advice they could pass on.
Aileen and JonathAn Hamblett, Proprietors, Hambletts, Aviemore.
