NHS meal patterns to change
Every National Health hospital will have to offer the main meal of the day in the evening rather than at lunchtime by the end of the year, the Hospital Caterers Conference heard last week.
Kate Priestley, chief executive of NHS Estates, also told delegates that hospitals would have to provide ward kitchens and a "snackbox" from which patients could request food at any time.
This statement was not universally welcomed, because some believe it will be difficult to persuade kitchen staff on low wages to work in the evening in city centres.
Priestley said she recognised the problem, but 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 the main meal in the evening.
This firm stance over the deadline was an indication that hospital food was higher up the political agenda with this Government than it had ever been before, argued Priestley.
Health Minister John Denham should have given the Government's view on NHS catering at the conference, but pulled out at the last minute. Health Secretary Alan Milburn was speaking at another gathering near by but chose not to visit the conference.
