Patients need patience for Grossman's dishes

NHS patients will have to wait another four months to sample dishes from the new menu designed by television presenter Loyd Grossman and his team of celebrity chefs.

Under the Better Hospital Food programme launched by health secretary Alan Milburn in May, one celebrity dish was to be added to hospital menus by the end of August and a further two by the end of December. But hospital caterers have decided instead to introduce all three dishes in December.

Although concerns were expressed over the extra cost of new dishes, a spokesman for NHS Estates, which manages the Better Hospital Food programme, said the delay was due to administrative difficulties: "Hospitals devise their menus in advance. Doing them twice is not the best use of time or resources."

The new menu for Britain's hospitals was designed by Grossman, a former MasterChef presenter, and a team of seven leading chefs. It is part of a £40m scheme to improve hospital food