Medical ward staff undervalue meals as aid to recovery

11 May 2004 by
Medical ward staff undervalue meals as aid to recovery

Poor communication between medical staff and hospital caterers, and the separation of their budgets, leads to patients getting artificial feeds or expensive drugs when ordinary food would be just as effective in aiding recovery, delegates at the Hospital Caterers Association (HCA) in Brighton were told last week

"If we are not careful we can allow science to blind us to the blindingly obvious," health minister Lord Warner said. "There would appear to be times when we give patients more expensive alternatives to food. Artificial feeding has its place, but it should always be used as a last resort."

A new Council of Europe report concerning nutrition in hospitals refers to "ordinary food" as an aid to recovery.

Delegates complained that nurses often tended to disappear when the food trolley arrived. Simon Williams, director of policy at the Patients Association, said: "Nurses have been so over-trained that their technical skills move them away from the basics. I've seen a catering assistant struggling to serve 40 meals while a nurse just twiddles her thumbs. It should be a joint responsibility."

But Jane Collins, a senior clinical nurse at Addenbrooke's NHS Trust, Cambridge, said that the cook-chill production method had removed nurses from contact with food and the enjoyment of serving it. She also pointed out that drug administration usually happened at mealtimes.

On further ways of cutting expenses, Warner said that hospitals could do more to develop sustainable food procurement policies: "Contrary to what some think, sustainable food procurement is not about eco-warriors going organic or buying all your carrots from Farmer Giles," he said. "It is about taking a measured and sensible look at what you buy and where you get it from. It doesn't mean every hospital has to change all its processes."

A change of purchasing habits at hospitals in York, Peterborough, the Pilgrim Hospital in Lincolnshire, and the Royal London, has led to overall savings of 7.5% on perishable goods, he said.

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