In the meantime, I've started a campaign to push for better hospital food. If you're a UK registered voter then please visit the campaign site and consider signing the petition.
I'd also like to point out here that although my experience of hospital food wasn't very good, I have only the highest praise for the medical care I received at my hospital. NHS workers take a lot of criticism, much of it deserved, but there are still thousands of dedicated and wonderful people who care for the sick and go the extra mile to make their patients comfortable, often in the face of amazing obstruction from petty regulators, managers and consultants.
To the frontline workers of the NHS who really do try to make a difference... thank you.
I am so pleased that you have finally got to the forefront of people's minds and really made a difference... congratulations on what promises to be a mind blowing programme... it never EVER ceases to amaze me, having read your blog all the way through, that grown ups could put such filth on a plate and pass it off as food, to someone who clearly needed nutritious intake in order to get better... lets hope that there is now a profound sea change. So pleased this has reached the front line, I really am. xx
ReplyDeleteHello TM.
ReplyDeleteI know I haven't visited the blog in a while, but still keep up to date with your campaign. Just signed the petition on the Dispatches site and it's great to finally put a face to the blog as it were.
May I add my congratulations to you for starting this campaign.
ReplyDeleteWhen will the goons who run the hospital shows realise that if you feed somebody well, they'll be in and out of hospital much quicker. Waiting lists would therefore drop.
My own experience goes back a long way, to 1989 when I was only 33, but in the BRI for heart surgery. The food was cooked in Gloucester, chilled, and reheated in Bristol. It was as bad as it could get. Many of us started to have food parcels brought in by our loved ones. They became the big highlight of the day, and we actually felt like we were getting some sensible nutrition and there was a fair chance we'd improve as a result. Eventually the hospital found out, and stopped it, on the pretext that they feared we might bring in some bugs! Needless to say, I laughed, but then I cried.
There was one man on our ward, and he'd been there a while before me, who was only in hospital for so long because they were trying to build up to be strong enough to face the necessary operation he had to have. I, as a farmer, appreciated good value in proper food. When trying to explain to the authorities that they could keep him in that bed for as long as they liked, but if they fed him the food that they called food, he wasn't going to be going anywhere near an operating theatre for an awful long time, I got blank expressions. Nobody seemed interested in or capable of making the necessary changes.
One day the authorities sent round a group who were there to monitor, I think is an independent group, patient experiences. Needless to say, they got both barrels. What changed? Precious little. When one looks at the millions (billions) being spent on medical research, it makes you realise that the simple things can make the biggest differences. And yet the authorities ignore them. At least, they have until now, because there are some signs of changes occurring.
Good luck with your campaign.
Just tuned into your blog and campaign. You have my wholehearted support. I only did 8 weeks on bed 'rest' in 1992. I will never forget the misery of the food. Do you propose solutions in your programme? I will watch with great interest, yours in solidarity. Joanna
ReplyDeleteI've just thought of something else that I'd like to add!
ReplyDeleteAbout three years ago a friend was in Yeovil hospital, and when I went to visit him I noticed the nurses were writing on a whiteboard in the corridor. I took a look at what they were writing, and it was entitled "nutrition policy".
Unfortunately, this policy had nothing to do with nutrition! I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised. It featured all sorts of comments such as, ensuring that the patient eats all their meal. It was all about the practice of delivering meals, patient comfort whilst eating them, etc.
I took this up with the chief executive, and as you might expect, was stone-walled, with plenty of flowery language and many reasons why it was easier for them to do nothing, than to be proactive. The correspondence naturally dried up, because it was quite clear they were not interested in change. Disgraceful. I tried lobbying a friend who I know is on the hospital board, but even she could make no impact.
Perhaps it will change if Andrew Lansley is dished up hospital food day and night for the next month. How could we do this? We would have to make sure that it is the same type of food as you were offered, and not that coming from, for example, the Royal Cornwall Hospital, in Truro, where they have a very forward-looking and agreeable food policy and menus.
Some great points, Oliver. I don't understand what is so difficult about preparing food on bigger scales. Cruise ships do it all the time and on very tight budgets. The NHS average for ingredients is around £4 a day including tea, coffee, snacks and three meals a day. The cost of staff, kitchens, overhead and profit is another matter. I think the inefficient structure is sucking up huge amounts of cash that should be going on ingredients. Perhaps it's time to get Tesco or Marks & Spencer to provide hospital food.
ReplyDeleteThis might sound petty, but the Video is not visible from the US.
ReplyDeleteFight the good fight.
What a shame.... i can`t watch the video as it is not available in my area ( Crete).
ReplyDeleteI have signed the petition.
Will the programme be available to watch on You Tube please, as we don`t get Brit TV here ?
" More power to XTM ".Go man go !!!
Ness..
I don't think it will be on YouTube but I'll try to find out. I'm sorry to all those of you outside the UK. It may be able to get around the restriction using a proxy server but that's too complex for me to explore here. Any readers who can help please feel free to post.
ReplyDeleteHi - looking forwards to seeing the programme! I've followed your blog from the start. I had to take food in to my mum when she was in hospital following major surgery - I was incensed when I saw the garbage that they had served up to her. I've never forgotten the day I went in and the tray was infront of her and although she'd asked for help to sit up to eat her 'meal' ( I use that term loosely) no-one came. For the next 2 months I went in at every meal time and battled with the nurses to be allowed to re-heat nutritious food I'd made. I won.
ReplyDeleteI've signed your petition.
Are you well - have you recovered from the surgery and walking ok again?
best wishes
Pam
Not fully mended but feeling better. Walking with crutches.
ReplyDeleteI for one will be glued to my seat. My local hospital is better than most but still not good enough. More power to your elbow!
ReplyDeleteI very much look forward to seeing the programme, I just hope that an awareness of the problem will actually lead to changes that are positive and needed. I also hope for a return to nursing having an emphasis on care not just ticking boxes
ReplyDeleteDear ETM
ReplyDeleteGood news - Sky-Plus set up and ready for tomorrow evening! Looking forward to your programme...
Best wishes, Cats' Mother
wooooo finally! well ive been in and out of hospital for 5yrs now and i spent a whole yr in hospital without coming out and i know exactly what the food is like you either dont get wat you ordered (times where ive had nothing coz my order wasnt on the food trolley) or u do get it and its wrong, tiny or plain disgusting. Im so used to the breakfast and lunch being disgusting that surprisingly i actually look forward 2 my 2 spoonfuls of soup n dry plain sandwiches for dinner lol im so used to the food being so bad that i dont order anymore but then theyve got the cheek to tell me ive got to eat something coz im really skinny from gastric problems so i now have to go and get my breakfast and lunch from the restaurant which is very expensive! or i just get a salad for lunch n hope that my 5 lettuce leaves come up on the trolley and hope that there not brown lettuce leaves lol i used to try and order haddock and wedges but found the haddock to be tiny and soggy and shrivelled up n found i would be lucky to get 5 small wedges. i really hope they do something as its too expensive to keep buying my food in there restaurant!
ReplyDeletemind you i know in my hospital i wouldnt dare complain as i get treated badly enough without complaining so i think im the best patient they have normally but i dont think it helps the lunch servers are so stroppy that alot of ppl dont speak up so im very glad someone has found the courage to say something xx
ReplyDeleteI've been a patient in Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester four times since 2007, each time for a week at least. The food was grey, tasteless, often downright weird, and cold as well. It was sometimes difficult to identify exactly what it was on the plate before you. I tried to eat it, tried to select something from the menu that looked edible, but ended up sending my meal trays back untouched. As did the women in the ward with me.....
ReplyDeleteMost worrying was the fact that no one ever asked us why we were not eating. A good thing, perhaps, that we were all fairly healthy well-oriented adults who were not in hospital for long (we had all had operations of one sort or another), but what if we had been frail elderly or patients who were compromised by a chronic condition? We could have starved unnoticed. I suppose in one way the nursing staff did notice that we were not eating - they would joke about it. 'What? Nothing you'd like to eat again?'. That wasn't much help. No one ever offered to bring something else to replace the bad food or took our complaints seriously.
I am studying to be an holistic nutritional therapist, and the sooner we can get the whole country eating more healthily the better, but it is particularly grim that in hospital the food served is dreadful, un-nutritious and in some cases harmful. I understand what is required to help the body heal, and re-heated slop is not going to help.
ReplyDeleteI think you made a really relevant point about mood too, in order to be better and for your body to recover you need a positive mental attitude. Nutrition is closely linked to mood and if you are not receiving healthy nutritious food you cannot be positive about anything.
I wholeheartedly support your campaign, and hope that it starts the wheels turning towards better food in hospitals and a better understanding about the effect that food has on us all in general.
I have signed the petition, Good Luck!!
Polly Douglas
Great blog. I have linked to it. As a hospital Nurse I am also disgusted at the food. And I am told that my hospital is one of the better ones for decent food.
ReplyDeleteKitchen never sends up what the patients ordered. They never send up enough food for the entire ward. They are miserable and unhelpful when we try to get more.
On its phone-in starting now, Radio 2 (UK) is discussing hospital food. I'm having a listen.
ReplyDeleteCora
Yup, I thought you might be on there Mark! Well done for getting on the programme.
ReplyDeleteCora
Looking forward to the programme tonight Mark, well done.
ReplyDeleteAlso in todays Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1358981/NHS-bosses-blocked-hospital-food-revamp-says-Lloyd-Grossman.html
Lansdown
On BBC breakfast this morning as well http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12522805
ReplyDeleteFor those who don't know her, Nurse Anne (above, 21 February 2011 11:43) writes with passion, wit, experience and a keen eye for observation about nursing in NHS. She's done an excellent series of posts on the myth of protected meal times (an on-going contributor to poor food service & malnutrition).
ReplyDeleteI will be interested to see if the programme has any solutions to flesh out what can be done about the criticisms in the petition. There have been some interesting initiatives that involve supermarket food and patient access to a microwave (not optimal but it does allow a degree of flexibility missing from most present arrangements).
Hi i have just spent three weeks in queens hospital romford and i could not eat the food that thay was trying to serve me i took pitchers of it and it would make you sick if you saw it i have contacted my local paper so thay can print some of the truf about the food in queens hosptial.
ReplyDeleteAlan Lamb
I have to say I am extremely embaressed about this program. I am a frontline hospital worker and one of my unfortunate tasks is to dish up the food, I try as hard as possible to serve up the food in the best way but it's often a tall order! I would like to mention that if you are a lactose intolerant or have specific dietary needs the hospital meals are often a lot nicer than most. Please mention it to your nurses, we are able to order such things as soya milk from the kitchens. I often feel rather sad about the food I have to offer patients, but even when we speak to the higher bosses - even chief execs we too do not get answers. I will always go out of my way to help a patient and many of my colleagues have gone "shopping" to buy something to tempt some of our patients to eat or buy fresh fruit juice if they wont drink anything else which we pay for ourselves. It needs to be sorted out, there needs to be tasty, nutritional and healthy food for all patients. Good luck and I will endeavor to do what I can.
ReplyDeleteRecently had a short stay at North Staffs Hospital - brilliant service from doctors & nurses but the most atrocious food - I brought both the great medical care and rubbish food to the attention of the consultant in charge of my surgery and their advice was to get my wife to bring me some food in ! How come we can carry out complex surgery but can't manage a spag bog or meat and two veg ?
ReplyDeletewhinge , whinge , whinge - the food is free - there are people starving in the world- be grateful - we have a fantastic NHS - if you want better - go private - or better still the 'decent' food you got from the canteen could be available to all at a premium
ReplyDeleteIt is sad to see that we make this an issue worthy of prime time television slots given the challenges in the healthcare industry, the economy and even the world. When a nurse is paid so poorly relative to the stress, time and difficulty of the job they do seeing an individual complain because they 'ordered tomato soup which didn't arrive' is just tragic. The NHS is free to use, is under enormous strain financially in a time when the entire economy is struggling. But at the end of the day it is a service that the majority of the world has no access to, and it seems tragic that we cannot appreciate how very lucky we are as a public to have access to this. Putting your fork down as something is 'inedible' because it is poor quality is hard to justify with all the starvation in this world.
ReplyDeleteMy view is simple - what is provided is edible and does contain what is needed to survive. So spend more on staff pay and hospital facilities or looking even wider upon those who cannot afford to eat at all in this country and abroad and once those issues are dealt with then complain about the quality of what you are provided for free.
A disappointed reader.
What a complete and utter whining moaner you are!, people are in hospital to get well and recover and not to pick and choose over menus all day long, you should be grateful you have the NHS, also remember that people are going hungry even in the UK each day and would be glad of the food you are poo pooing. Some people were just born to moan and you are one of them.
ReplyDeleteI've been an inpatient at both the University Hospital of Wales and Llandough hospitals in Cardiff.
ReplyDeleteWhilst in the UHW, a fellow elderly patient, severly underweight, required a specialist diet. In practice, that meant an even more limited choice from the standard menu. My own experience? I never knew a salad sandwich could be murdered!!!
As for Llandough, asking for a ham salad was no different to the side salad offered to everyone.
Additionally, whilst in the UHW with a broken wrist, I'm left with my toast and somehow meant to open the butter and jam things, which are a pain at the best of times, and also spread these on my toast all with one hand.
It's no wonder patients leave hospital malnourished, especially the elderly.
Sad, real sad.
I think this show is just scraping the barrels to fill tv time slots. Your an ungrateful man. Think of people in other countries who don't even have beds for extremely ill patients let alone "nice food"
ReplyDeleteClearly your someone who buys nothing but the best from Waitrose.
If it's that bad send it too Africa I'm sure 1000's of kids would fight for it.
Pathetic. You should be ashamed!!
I use to work in a hospital kitchen but it was closed down and got rid of the chefs, regeneration trollies were brought in and it only took one memeber of staff to cook the meals for the wards, food not very nice after freshly cooked meals.
ReplyDeleteAs a frontline NHS worker who had the unfortunate experience of being admitted to hospital as an emergency last year I fully support your campaign. However, if you think hospital food in England is bad.....try Scotland. No sign of fruit or veg and white bread only - totally against any health promotion advice! As soon as I was mobile I escaped downstairs to the wee coffee shop (note not the hospital canteen!!) - that was enough motivation to escape. Being in hospital does not need to be a horrible experience but unfortunately it can be due to poor food and facilities.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much traction man for bringing this subject to light. I have been in and out of hospital over the past 8 years and havent spent too much time in there ( thank god) but the food is disgusting and the worst experience I had was on one occasion I had to go into hospital the day before my surgery so Id starved from then and 1600 the following day I was told my op had been cancelled, so i had no drinks or food for over 24 hours I had a splitting headache and all they offered me was cold, soggy toast.....what a treat!
ReplyDeleteYour not on a 5* star all inclusive holiday!
ReplyDeleteDieticians are specially selected to make sure the food meets the standard of requirement to keep you alive.
Just watching your programme now. And petition signed. I was inpatient on an eating disorders unit for four months over the summer. Somewhere we are meant to learn to like and enjoy food and gain weight in a healthy way. I left with more food phobias and dislikes than before.
ReplyDeleteTo those who suggest patients are whinging, I think you are forgetting that a) people are entrusting their health to the NHS. Food forms a part of that. Malnourishment does not equal recovery. b) When yr stuck in a ward all day, all you generally have to look forward to is mealtimes.
ReplyDeleteTo use starvation elsewhere in the world is not a valid defence. We live in the UK, not a 3rd world country. That's akin to saying I have 2 arms, 2 legs and a head and should be gratelful. PFFT!!!
Lastly, I am grateful for the NHS. I've just spent 7 months in the US, whereby an accident requiring 12 stitches in my eyebrow and a catscan cost NHS are served less edible and nutritious food than that of those serving a sentence in prisons.
If the food was good, it would be very difficult to get rid of patients.
ReplyDeleteFree bed, free food, no living expenses.
Food is so unimportant when there are many bigger issues that need addressing.
Still, i hear it's quite comfy on the NHS bashing bandwagon, if you can't criticise your quality of care, why not slate the food eh? And get a free meal out of it!
oops, cost £5000 - not sure what went wrong there - guess I should've previewed.
ReplyDeleteOh god, watching the show, genuinely felt sick since seeing the liver and bacon, I don't understand how hospitals can actually serve that kind of food :/
ReplyDeleteThank you for bringing this issue to light!
ReplyDeleteI turned down many questionable meals during my two weeks in hospital and had my parents smuggle in wholesome, cooked-from-scratch food at every opportunity.
The image of the solid, congealed "cheesy pasta" I ordered hospital will forever haunt me!
watching the prgramme and just spotted my name at 9 minutes on the blog!!! fame at last and what a brilliant programme xtm!!
ReplyDeleteI'm just watching your self-aggrandisement disguised as a documentary right now on C4. My thoughts?
ReplyDeleteI'm fully behind your 'paninis for all' campaign. I also want to see all stew's and casseroles cooked exclusively in Le Creuset cookware in all NHS hospitals using free-range, hand reared, freshly stroked meat (and vegetables).
I also want to pay at most a fiver a day.
How hard can it be?!
Please keep up the good work.
By the way, how much did you get paid for this program?
ReplyDeleteMy Mum had to put up with similar food that you showed for over 5 months until she died back in December. The only descent hospital meal she had was when she was at St. Thomas' Hospital, when she went there for tests and it was only for one day.
ReplyDeleteAdrian your naivety astounds me - and demonstrates how little you know about the nhs. Dieticians specially selected?!! It should be the BASIC requirements.....there are plenty of elderly people who do not get proper nutritious food in hospital and become so weak that they die...but you probably believe in eugenics!!
ReplyDeleteAs a staff nurse who works within the NHS, I spend the breakfast, lunch and dinner times handing out the free meals that are provided to the patients that are admitted to hospital. I have seen the meals that are provided and the way they are presented when handed out, I have to say the food is not of a good quality and this opinion is widespread throughout the nursing and catering community.
ReplyDeleteThe catering staff do there best to present it as well as possible and i know some of the catering staff feel embarrassed when handing the meals out because there is not enough food on the plate or the quality of the food is poor.
I think patients forget that the NHS is a free service, it provides food that is free, whilst if we were at home we would pay out for food we would consider eating. With regards to patients who become 'malnourished' whilst in hospital- i believe this lies with the responsibilities of the staff nurses or health care assistants who should flag up those who are at risk of this but should be provided with the facilities and time for assistance with feeding-another financial strain on the NHS.
Not once have i heard anyone mention what are the relatives doing to help their loved ones in hospitals, why can't food be brought in for the patients if the NHS food is so bad and why can't the relatives provide assistance with feeding at meal times?
I think people have to remember that this is not a reflection on the nursing staff or catering staff as we feel the same frustrations that patients and relatives do.
You should have taken her something if you were that bothered Mark!
ReplyDeletei am a catering assistant from crosshouse hospital in kilmarnock scotland our meals are cooked on the premises and they are first class
ReplyDeleteThere is only so much money available.
ReplyDeleteBetter quality food = worse something else.
- cut staff pay?
- fewer facilities?
- fewer operating facilities?
- less outpatient community care?
You get better food at home because you pay for it, better food in a pub because you pay for it, better food in private hospitals because you pay for it.
To sum this up:
You are biting the hand that feeds you (for free)
Hello Mark
ReplyDeleteI must say i'm slightly appalled at this opportunistic NHS bashing. The fact is, the health service is so strapped for money that it simply cannot afford gourmet food. Many people in hosptial beds have a minimal appetite anyway and there are more important things to focus on.
If you, and many of you blog readers, would be prepared to up the level of tax you pay that goes to the NHS then you might have an argument. But you should be targeting the government, which is systematically destroying free public healthcare as we speak.
By posting blogs like this, you are providing amuition to those who say free healthcare can't work.
I totally agree that hospital food needs to be improved. My mum was in James Cook University hospital recently she is lactose intollerant and the food on the menu could not accomadate this.
ReplyDeleteWe had to bring in food for her everyday just to get her to eat anything. The food on the trolley was really unappelling with very soggy veg wich can not have had any nutritional value for people who really need the nutrition to get better.
this is so silly how could someone treat a person like this it it is horible and i am only 11 and i know that is wrong. even my little cousin who is 6 could think of feeding and washing someone that is sick and can not do this on their own. they are looking after someone in there care they should at least treat them nicely and with the respect they deserve. tell them would they liked to be treated like this in their sick times.
ReplyDelete25 years ago I carried out catering reviews at over 200 hospitals in the UK. Last week my mother was in hospital and having seen the food served to her it shocks me that the same problems are still happening. There are some hospitals which serve good food but the key differentiator is how seriously the senior management of the hospital take catering. I have witnessed nursing staff serve food which they say they would not eat themseleves. That is simply unforgiveable; if its not good enough for staff then it is certainly not good enough for the patients. There are so many studies dating back over 25 years which show the value of nutrition to the healing process but in many hospitals catering just isn't taken seriously. I would make the hospital chief executive taste the food every day at ward level (like they do in prison) and that might start to make a difference. It can be better and it doesn't have to cost a fortune but there has to be a strong management will to want to make it happen.
ReplyDeleteType into google starvation.
ReplyDeleteHave a look at charities in true areas of poverty, save the children in Africa, homeless charities in South America. Would these people turn their noses up at any form of meal?
Look at true starvation - those who cant get any food at all let alone food that wasn't good enough.
Awful whining people who are creating their own misery when there are much worse things in the world that should be dealt with first than badly put together meals.
We just watching the programme, and would like to share some thoughts, both as NHS workers. Please do not forget the followings: the NHS is still a free health care service, probably one of the best you can get in the whole world. You have a menu to choose from, in other countries you simply do not have a choice, you have to eat what they provide for you. The Royal Brompton in Chelsea can easily afford to cook quality food thanks to the donations they receive. Simply can not believe they have a limited budget. Altogether people should be grateful for the free service they get and not to expect 5 star treatment and attack NHS from all sides possible.
ReplyDeleteAdrian, no one is expecting 5* all inclusive but when your recovering from treatment the last thing you want is a meal you cannot eat, have you actual stayed in hospital and tried their food? if so , then your lucky if you liked it but your in the minority.
ReplyDeleteWhat a whinger. You got better didn't you. Next time you'd better book into Jamie Oliver Royal next time - that'll get you sorted! Maybe ten weeks with nothing else to think about got you slightly obsessed............
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying your documentary and cringing at what you were served. I wouldn't serve that to my pet dogs, never mind an ill human being.
ReplyDeleteIf one hospital (featured in the documentary) can serve freshly cooked, quality food at a good price then why can't all the others? Where there's a will there's a way.
Hospital managers should be forced by law to eat the same food they have served up to their patients. Then things will start to change very quickly!
I hope that I never need to go into hospital and I feel very, very sorry for elderly people who can't speak up for themselves and have no relatives to sneak in decent meals for them or help them to eat it. It's shameful.
Quote:
ReplyDelete***"There is only so much money available.
Better quality food = worse something else.
- cut staff pay?
- fewer facilities?
- fewer operating facilities?
- less outpatient community care?
You get better food at home because you pay for it, better food in a pub because you pay for it, better food in private hospitals because you pay for it.
To sum this up:
You are biting the hand that feeds you (for free)"***
Good, nutritious food is part of the recovery process. It should be as integral as staffing and facilities. Why not cut out all that middle management?
In 37 years of life I've never felt the urge to blog, but your constant moaning and whining on TV has made me finally do so. You were in hospital, and, as your introduction said you were lucky to survive but instead of appreciating this fact you are moaning, for a whole hour, about the food. The only reason you got the better food is because you abused your authority as a journalist and they gave you it to shut you up. Looks like you're after your fifteen minutes of fame. Well done you got it but, in my opinion, for a being a bit of a tw*t!
ReplyDeleteBe a bit more grateful, you pathetic moaner
Quote:
ReplyDelete"Good, nutritious food is part of the recovery process. It should be as integral as staffing and facilities. Why not cut out all that middle management?"
Why not take responsibility for your own food?
Get a life. Looks like you had nothing better to write about.
ReplyDeleteMark
ReplyDeleteYou describe yourself as a 'poor sod' who spent months in traction. I've very sorry to hear that. However, I cannot stand the consumer knows all approach that people - yourself included - adopt these days. The fact is, if you were in many other countries, you might not have been treated at all. As it was, you spent months being looked after at a cost of many, many thousands of pounds of public money.
I'm pleased you are feeling much better - but feel very strongly that you should be grateful about this, not bitter.
The fact is, the food you described and showed was by no means inedible. True, more money needs to be invested in nursing so they have more chance to feed patients. However, this is a seperate issue - and one which your petition may in fact worsen.
Having Just Watched your programme I was slightly confused when you mentioned staying at a nuffield hospital, I thought they were private.
ReplyDeleteI had a baby boy 6 months ago in Norfolk and Norwich hospital and I was appalled by the standard of food. I was in hospital for only one week but after only three days, I was having my husband and my mother sneak me in food. no wonder I had so much trouble feeding my son to start out when i wasn't getting enough nutrition for either of us to survive on. my son was of low birth weight. my midwife admitted that the food did not have enough nutritional value for a breastfeeding mother to feed herself and a newborn and she advise mothers to give some supplemented Formula as well as breast milk. I had to supplement my son a few times and felt dreadful doing so as giving my son formula was out of necessity not choice.
ReplyDeleteI have stayed in a hospital. And the food isn't what you would get in The Ritz but it was food and it was great. People like Traction Man create there own misery or create an apparent documentary for money.
ReplyDeleteHe says he is a journalist yet he talks like he is a nutrionist.
Can't wait for the politicians to raise the amount we pay. Think traction man will create a documentary then complaining how much we pay?
You seem to miss the point, it's a free health service.
It's amazing how the minority barks louder than the majority.
Your TV program appaled me.
I can only assume that people on here slating the programme / Mark have never had the misfortune of being served totally indedible food at a time when vitamins, protein etc are essential to promote healing and recovery.
ReplyDeleteYou've done a great job flagging up an important issue Mark - well done to you. If my mother had had to rely on hospital food following her major surgery, she would have died of starvation.
I work at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and make sure I work hard to help patients, even when they say "I'm okay, love", which, within the power relations, especially older adults, is the response. I would like to say the food is mostly very good and I would eat it myself if it weren't a sackable offense!
ReplyDeleteQuote:
ReplyDelete"Why not take responsibility for your own food?"
Because I am confined to a hospital bed, maybe? Who looks forward to a meal devoid of nutritional value when they are ill?
When medical staff do an excellent job and achieve what they are supposed to, why shouldn't food? Food isn't there to fill a hole, it's supposed to nourish and help ailing patients' bodies recover.
As a midwife can I just say that women in the african continent under famine conditions are able to breastfeed their babies so what a total load of rubbish about your meal not being worthy. I understand the need for better food and if it can be achieved without cuts else where great. As a front line worker there are bigger and definite life threatening issues to deal with other than what % pork your sausage contains.
ReplyDeleteA lot of patients do NOT have friends and family to come in and bring them in anything. Nothing.
ReplyDeleteI think that is very unfortunate that people in Africa have a poorer health service than we do in the UK. One difference is that we pay hundreds of £s a year in taxes for the provision of a decent service and we sometimes don't get it. As to the idiot who says, if you don't like the food sent it to Africa, they haven't quite thought that through!!!!
ReplyDeleteQuote: "Because I am confined to a hospital bed, maybe? Who looks forward to a meal devoid of nutritional value when they are ill?"
ReplyDeleteHere's a clue. Take personal responsibility. It must be an alien concept, so a period of adjustment may be required. Don't be scared... embrace it.
Having spent over 2 years as an inpatient in UCH London I can confirm your sentiments fully. The hospital was only 2 months old when I was admitted in 2005 and in all my time there was unable to stomach a single meal living mainly on the E sure drinks and the occasional snack from local shops if I was strong enough to get out of bed.
ReplyDeleteMany of the older adults, especially anyone with dementia, refuse to eat their meals or accept anything to drink. It is, sadly, often the only last element of control left in their lives and they are deciding, sometimes, not to imbibe anything anymore. Relatives or friends who visit cannot change this anymore than healthcare assistants or nurses. This should be respected.
ReplyDeleteThank you for highlighting this problem.
ReplyDeleteI work in a hospital in administration but recently had the misfortune of needing major surgery. All I can say is the food on offer at this hosptial was disgusting. Although there is a wide choice of meals, the meals are "steamed" (microwaved) and were totally unappealing, vegetables still raw and meat as tough as boots. Yet downstairs is the canteen for staff/visitors which is catered differently with balanced and appealing meals. Why are staff/visitors served better meals than what patients who require decent nutrition whilst recovering.
When I return to work I am writing to our Chief Executive regarding this as patient food was disgusting. I was not expecting Michelin style food, just a nutritional balanced edible meal, not slop or rabbit food.
Thank you once again for highlighting this issue
I spent three weeks in an orthopaedic hospital in 1993 and lost nearly a stone in weight because the food was so vile and inedible. I cannot believe that things have STILL not improved - and reading the negative comments from people claiming to actually work in the NHS who think that the food is perfectly adequate - you are in denial, people! Better nutrition = better patient outcomes and shorter hospital stays and therefore money saved for the NHS. And, by the way, it is NOT free - what are we paying taxes for??
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI would really like to speak to you about, you guessed it, hospital food! We have been struggling for 3 months now; my Mum has Leukaemia and is in isolation in hospital for the majority of the time. Do you have an email address?
Thanks.................. and here's hoping!
I recently spent 3 weeks in the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London and have to say the food was fantastic. Extensive choice, hot and tasty - I couldn't have asked for better.
ReplyDeleteHiya mr. XTM, long time since i've commented, but just watched the program on tv, i fully agree with everything raised, if Dawn had been given better food and care, she would still be here today i believe.
ReplyDeleteIt was good to put a name and face to a blog that i've followed with great interest (apart from when my computer decided to give up on me and left me blog-less for a while!)
Keep up the good work!
wayne
to the "midwife who posted.
ReplyDeleteyou comment of mothers in African countries being able to breastfeed. babies in African countries are often highly under nourished due to the parents not getting enough nourishment. for you to comment on here that it is not a big deal is disgusting. if you are in fact a midwife you are in the wrong profession. a child's health should be the utmost importance to anyone especially someone in your profession. we are not in a third world country and we pay our taxes so why should we not expect a better quality of food in our hospitals.
just watched your programme which was sadly very true of many of the hospitals in which i have worked. just wanted to add an important message which is not to overlook how the catering feedback is collated. in the Trust where i currently work its the catering department who collects feedback. this is in the process of changing to the nursing staff, yet another job for them to do. people aren't going to complain particularly whilst they're still in hospital. they haven't got the energy... in reality the nurses haven't got time and i don't see it as their job. therefore catering will not get the true feedback they need to change. feedback forms (almost like an exit interview) should be compulsory and anonymous so we start to get reliable honest feedback
ReplyDeleteI have just tuned in to watch what i thought would be an interesting documentary, but all i can see is an ungrateful, delusional, middle aged, out of touch, silver spoon fed (complains about not getting 'elevenses') man.
ReplyDeleteIf you are so unhappy with the NHS why don't you discharge yourself and go private. You should be thankful that we have free health care, if you lived in the US you would be paying through the roof and god knows what you would get if you lived in a 3rd world country! Surely we should judge the NHS on their medical care and not their culinary skills!
If you love your wifes cooking so much get her to bring you some in, otherwise stop moaning and be grateful!!
Where do you think the NHS is free? I pay taxes and national insurance since leaving School 37 years ago. I only had to go into Hospital recently for Gall stones, in fact I had been registered with my GP for 7 years and never saw them until recently. Having Gall stones I wanted a low fat diet to reduce the risk of an attack. Having been nil by mouth for three days the first 'meal' I had was a ham sandwich. brought on an attack and back on nil by mouth. When I had the operation the hospital food was so poor that my wife and daughter brought food in from home, openly, no sneaking around. When the other inmates on my ward saw this they all had food brought in. I work in private healthcare and we are able to feed our patients good food, 3 meals plus cakes and snacks, which is also eaten by the directors for £3.40 per day. (Staff and directors pay for their food!)
ReplyDeleteSo pleased you have done this. I was in hospital over new year after having twins. The food was absolutely awful. I ate the same thing for three days in a row as I knew from previous experience to never order the mystery meat options. The cauliflower bake that I did eat was not heated properly and you could have wallpapered a house with the sauce. I feel so sorry for you having to put up with this vile stuff for ten weeks but well done for using the time to highlight the problem. Lets hope this changes soon.
ReplyDeletewe all pay for NHS treatment, therefore we can comment how we are treated in hospitals or GP surgeries. When will the Government really give CHOICE to patients.
ReplyDeleteHospital food is always under scruteny as we all know and can comment on issues like the ward is dirty, the wall has peeling paint, the linnen is not as white as it couls be, so when it comes to food we too are masters. Hospital food must provide the minumun daily nutrition as recommended by Govt guidelines, and these guidelines are old and need reviewing.
There is no reason for bad food in hospitals, there very good catering staff who do their best, every day. but they are only 1 cog in the wheel, all other profession play a part, from procurement to the nurse serving the patient. Communication in this line (catering to person serving patient meal to patient) is very often bad. If only communication was improved and I hate to say it but the Better Hospital Programme, was the right step to get all hospitals with a baseline to work from, but promises of improvement and investment were limited.
can the private sector do best? the NHS has been feeding patient for over 60 years and it has a committed catering staff, only if they could be motivated to go back to the basics by senior management. the NHS catering service can do it, if only all CEOs eat the patient and staff food daily or occasionally, what better way to communicate directtly with catering, patients and other NHS professional.......
to all the idiots out there.....
ReplyDeleteDECENT, NUTRITIOUS FOOD IS PART OF THE HEALING PROCESS YOUR BODY NEEDS.
It's no good forcing slop down a patients throat, with no vitamins, etc.
I hope none of you have to spend ten weeks in hospital eating crap, if you did, you'll be the first to complain i bet.
I really find it hard to believe the people on here who are criticising the evidence shown in the documentary.
ReplyDeleteI visited an elderly relative last year when she was in hospital. The lady was just not strong enough to reach out and grab a fork never mind actually being able to raise it to her mouth. When I complained about this, the nurse said she was sorry but they just did not have time to help everyone. I couldn't believe my ears. Here we had an elderly lady who couldn't feed herself so she was left to do without. Later, another nurse came along and cheerfully said "what's wrong not hungry today? Never mind, you might be a bit hungry later, i'll leave it here for you."
When I pointed out that she couldn't even muster the strength to pick up the fork she said "well why don't you do it then?". I replied, quite sarcastically I must admit, that I had been too busy cleaning the poo off the bed and changing the sheets as they had obviously not been changed in two or three days.
The nurse then announced that she would take the food away then and it was just as well the patient had not eaten it as the food looked as it it would have poisoned her! That I had to agree with. It looked like some kind of grey lumps in a sort of watery liquid with some white, well, sort of white, lumps on the side. It turned out that it was supposed to be poached salmon with new baby potatoes and vegetables.
On the show there were some comments about how many patients had said the food was good to very good on the survey carried out. I wonder if there was a checkbox option of "Sorry, to scared to complain in case my recovery is made to suffer even more". Just how many people say the food is "good" just because they are too frightened to say it is not.
Ken.
I work for a northern NHS trust who had a hospital kitchen and canteen , food for patients and staff was cooked all on site however to balance the books to meet foundation status the money could not be found to recondition the kitchens so the private sector has been brought in. SOD-EXO as featured in your report. Standards have fallen prices in the canteen have rocketed and very few staff now use it . The Quality of the food in shameful. Every hospital should have a kitchen . When people work in the kitchens where they are preparing the food for their customers they take pride in what they do, you lose this by preparing offsite.
ReplyDeletewhen you employ private cleaners in the nhs you find them sleeping in cupboards when they are local people who have been working for the trust for years they take pride in keeping their hospital clean.
This trust has to make a 10 million pounds saving this year so nothing will improve at the moment. As the cuts and changes proposed by the current health bill hit it will put increasing pressure on how hospital gain revenue. If this campaign is to follow through the government should take note of the bad examples shown by allowing the private sector into our hospitals.
At last, someone has stood up to the establishment and complained about the horrendous food. I had a major brain haemorrhage and was in hospital for over a month, I lost so much weight due to a poor diet and with no help from staff when I was unable to feed myself.
ReplyDeleteNow my 87 year old mother is in a Social Security care home with dementia, she cannot feed herself. While the staff will give her a couple of mouthfuls of the dreadful pulp they dish up if she says 'no more' then they don't encourage her to eat more - I'm told its called 'force feeding' and so its not allowed by law. I live miles away so I can't visit her very often but when I do and she says 'no more' I wait a minute then say 'OK mum another mouthful' and she eats it, having forgotten her previous statement. Little and often is better than just taking the plate away and leaving her hungry. The other thing I can't get over and have complained about with no joy is that she is now in ‘Nappies’ as she is incontinent - one lasts all day! We wouldn't do that to babies or there would be public outcry about cruelty, but an old lady who can't speak for herself is left to wallow in her own faeces. I am totally ashamed by the state of the service both in hospital and care homes in the UK. I’m moving to France where the treatment there is far superior.
My mother was in a hospital that served fairly good food but many (all) of the very ill, elderly patients on the 'rehab' ward were not helped to eat what was put in front of them. Relatives were banned from the ward at mealtimes but I went in every day anyway to make sure Mum was getting enough decent food to eat. In the end they threatened to get security to throw me out if I went in at lunch time again!
ReplyDeleteThe food you filmed in the programme shown tonight was a disgrace - it looked completely inedible but I see there are quite a few NHS apologists and employees on here now trying to shout you down. The NHS is in a dire state and needs complete reform - not only the meals but care is second rate - or worse - in many cases particlarly in respect to the elderly vunerable.
Whatever your views on the rights and wrongs of the documentary can we please ditch the repeated claims that the NHS is FREE? It costs us BILLIONS.
ReplyDeleteSeveral tiers of red-taping target-massaging management could go overnight to the benefit of patients and front line staff. That would certainly pay for a bit of gristle-free liver.
To the poster at 21:09hrs many people with Dementia do not have the mental capacity to feed themselves or to make decisions such as starve themselves, with encouragement dementia sufferers will eat and drink, but it takes time and patience, please do not condemn them one day it might be you...
ReplyDeletesome of you keep going on about the food being free, so put up or shut up! how can you say that, i am very grateful for the nhs, i have been in and out of hospital for the past 7years but i am not grateful for the food i get served everytime i am in one of hull's hospitals, 3 times i have had spinal surgery and the food has been left on a table at the side of me when i was layed flat and could not move,just aswell i couldn't reach my food as most of it was inedible! the last time i was in i had to beg to be discharged as i was being constantly sick due to the bad food, as soon as i got home i was not sick once! (funny that!)
ReplyDeletesomething has to be done about the food, so please stop going on about it being free, i pay my contribution through my tax, i don't ask to go into hospital, but when i am there i do expect decent food to help with my recovery.
i am not asking for michelin star food, just edible food!
im watching your documentary and i think your an idiot. Sorry but i do, im 22, an art teacher and a student.
ReplyDeleteYou do nothing but pick inadequacies in life, a habit of the elderly i am being made more aware of by the day, you should write down how many hours a day you spend picking faults in others and replace it dealing with your own inadequacy. can you never focus on the positive? you dotn seem to realise how lucky you are to have what you've got, go to the Gambia and ask them if they get spoon fed apple crumble in hospital. You are part of society that is falling into the american view of "theres something wrong in my life, lets complain and try to get some money out of somebody to compensate me". People have survived for generations and generations on much less quality of care than we've got now. Can you not appreciate that? its pathetic that you have nothing better to do than make a fucking documentary on the fact that the NHS (a privilege in itself) can not afford to make you a three course sunday lunch. Whos gonna pay for you to have that mate? you? didn't think so..get a grip and start praising the fact that you have a healthcare service in the first place. My boyfriends father was recently in hospital for chemo and his meals were fab and he's a gourmet chef. If i cut up a michenlin star meal and treated it with such distrain and photographed it in the way you did it would look shite too.
The staff do the best they can for the money they get, i dont know if you know how hard those people work and how much pressure they're under for no praise and minimal pay. Coudl you do it?? Doubt it! Maybe you should say hey thanks for taking the time to work as a nurse and look after me, your lucky to have what you do.
If everyone becomes like you and winges all day everyday about everything and anything then the world doesnt need you mate.
The elderly people you got letters about, i want to know if they made themselves gourmet meals at home and spoon fed themselves? did they?? people are so quick to blame others to ease their own misery, when really there's no one else to blame. People are living to a ridiculous age these days, That womans mother you interviewed was 90! i dont really think that the food was responsible for her not gettign better, could be the fact hat shes nealr a century old? or that she was in hospital for a serious health condition in the first place. Ive seen the food peopel that age order in restaurants and it isnt exactly thai currys is it? NO its hospital food, outside hospital...im not lying. Do you want to live in a world where everyone sues everyone else for accidents and not being treated like fucking royalty. That man you interviewed said that his father was not being fed why didnt he bring it up or do it himself??? afterall he said that his father had a a long stay....did he just wait to see what happened?? WAIT FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IT? DO IT YOURSELF MATE
YOU and all these other blame- moaners should stop making documentaries and complaining and do something to help themselves, not expect everyone to help you...what have you done for them???
its been a running joke that hospital food isnt great, that the way
it goes, if you dont like it buy your own and stop being so bloodly ungrateful about it ai? do something better with your life
In reply to Ken.
ReplyDeleteIf the Nurses aren't helping the patients eat or not ensuring they are having a balanced meal then that is a totally different matter.
My point was that the Tractionman is complaining about not getting elevnsies and wants steamed salmon for lunch! What does he think this is the ritz?
I am sure doctors would not allow patients to be fed malnutritious food detrimental to health, agreed it doesn't always taste the best but i think there are more important things to spend and worry about in the NHS!
It's just common sense that good food = good health.
ReplyDeleteI have two nasty experiences with hospital food. My first was when I was 7 weeks pregnant and admitted with Hyper-remisis Gravitaruim - basically morning sickness from hell. I had had no food for a week and no water for 4 days. Every time I got anywhere near food or drink I'd vomit. I'd lost 9lb in a week, was so dehydrated that I couldn't stand up and was seriously fearing that I'd lose my baby.
I was put on anti-sickness medication and a drip, and after a few days encouraged to try eating. The only thing I could stomach from the revolting tripe I was served was the morning rice-krispies - after all, it's quite hard to get that wrong! Can you imagine your first attempts to eat after even water made you sick, being the grey gunk that somehow manages to be both sloppy and stodgy? Gross.
More alarming however is the situation my father-in-law is now in. He was rushed into hospital a month ago with a massive aneurysm and told he could not go home under any circumstances. If it burst his only chance was in immediate medical care. Now a long list of other complications arose, which I wont bore you with now, but he needed 2 operations (including open heart surgery) before they could even start on the really dangerous vascular stuff.
Now out of recovery from the heart operation, we have today been told that he has lost so much weight and is in such poor condition that he needs to come home to RECOVER FROM BEING IN HOSPITAL!! He needs good food and to recover his strength, say the Drs. Call me crazy, but I thought you went to hospital to get better, not worse! The "so dangerous you cannot go home" statement has now been replaced with "because he is so weak, if the blood vessel bursts it makes no difference where he is, he'll be dead anyway" (I paraphrase, but that was the gist). All because the hospital food was so poor that he couldn't eat it. And he's not a man fussy about his food.
Hospitals happy quote the statistics that they have very few complaints about the food. Is that really surprising when the patient and their family are coping with the stress of the illness, the hours of travelling to and from hospital, time off work, updating all the concerned friends, as well as trying to get done all the time consuming but necessary tasks that go with day-to-day life? My mother-in-law is at breaking point. Do you think she can handle the stress and bureaucracy of putting in a formal complaint at this point? No, and I'm sure the same goes for most people.
Sort it out NHS.
And to those "anonymous" cowards who think that you're just having a moan and that we shouldn't complain as it's free (err - made any NI contributions lately?): have the guts to put your names to your opinions!
I started nurse training in 1981 in a fairly large hospital. There were 3 kitchens which served food to patients and staff and it was great; wholesome food and very popular. Then cutbacks hit. Cooked breakfasts were reduced to cereal and toast and evening meals became 'bought in' sandwiches and yoghurt which was less than before but fine. Eventually all three kitchens closed, and meals were delivered over 100 miles from Wales and were totally inedible.
ReplyDeleteOne of the people on the programme said that hospitals aren't built with kitchens and this is why food comes from Wales. This is wrong. Kitchens were closed because it was deemed cheaper to transport / reheat food than to pay staff.
To those who say relatives should bring in food, that's a good point. But whilst I was working in hospital this was not allowed because 'the powers that be' feared they could be sued if a patient got food poisoning (from a pork pie being left on a locker all day or somesuch). Obviously they feel it better that the patient starve to death instead.....
To the postnatal mother-
ReplyDeleteWe can only assume you ate a sensible diet in pregnancy and your baby was not undernourished. Of course the health of a baby is of upmost importance, the point was that the meal you were presented with was most likely adequate to supply yourself with the calories to feed your baby. Take your guilt about formula feeding to another forum.
Finally, somebody has stood up and made it completely aware. I stayed in hospital when I was roughly 7/8 years old having treatment for asthma, and I remember the hospital food being absolutely revolting. It was like rubber. It was cold, and not at all appealing to anybody, let alone children. I couldn't eat anything so my mother had to go out and buy food from a local supermarket and bring it into me, even things like bananas and fruit she would bring in just because the fruit being offered was terrible and of low quality. She even brought me in a mcdonalds while all the nurses and staff walked passed pretty much in horror of why a parent buy give their child something so bad for you, yet, the hospital food was horrible.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you've made this documentary, keep up the good work.
I find it a complete waste of national insurance contribution money. How can the "head up there a**e top fat cats" be so ignorant of this disgusting food and service. I think it is complete ignorance of their duties to CARE when NHS patients are suffering.
ReplyDeleteStop wasting money on food that gets thrown away.
To Sian Nichol, well said finally someone else who was so enraged by this documentary that they felt the need to vent their anger on here.
ReplyDeleteI have never commented online for a tv show before but this one really wound me up, this public school educated reporter needs to get a grip on the real world.
Enraged Man
Nice to see that 1,556 have signed your campaign so far Mark, well done.
ReplyDeleteLansdown
To Sian Nichol
ReplyDeleteI hope and pray you never land up in an NHS hospital that serves this disgusting food. During my stay in hospital, I did not expect restaurant standard meals but I did expect to get an edible meal, instead I got inedible slop.
I started my nursing training in 1983 and remember the patients' meals actually looked very nutritious, yet today the standards of patient meals is so low. A patient's relatives are not allowed to bring food in as stated by someone else on here - risk of food poisoning.
You only have to look at comments from people who have been patients recently to understand how bad the patient food situation is.
i think you'll find that most of the pro-documentary comments are anonymous too, dotn be so quick to call others names without considering the facts first
ReplyDeleteBrilliant documentary! I spent months in hospital ten years ago undergoing chemotherapy. A few weeks were spent in Bristol's Southmead but most of the time in the RUH Bath. The food was totally different in both places... this seemed mainly due to the efforts of the dieticians. In Southmead the food was fresh and appetising whilst in the RUH it was a joke, literally. I was once presented with an egg curry that looked like a couple of grey eyeballs in a decomposing goo on a bed of maggots. I was neutropenic and am a vegetarian... so had a very limited menu choice. Sometimes there was nothing I could eat on the menu and I certainly would have starved if it wasn’t for some thoughtful nurses who supplied hungry patients with shop bought soup. Big tip if any patients are reading this... avoid fresh milk in hospitals. Eat toast instead of cereal and drink herb teas or black tea/coffee... I believe I managed to avoid hospital acquired bugs after adopting this strategy.. unfortunately it reduces calorie intake (but not so much as Clostridium does though).
ReplyDeleteWhere is the harm in regenerated or reheated food, do Marks and Spencers not make food all over Europe, ship it back to the UK so we can nuke it in the microwave or reheat it in our fan assisted ovens. The fact that NHS food in England and Wales is for the most part procured from a third party supplier is irrelevant. Get a grip.
ReplyDeleteI am in full agreement that this man is dillusional and obviously has far too much time on his hands and not nearly enough journalistic talent to report on worthy causes. Has hospital food ever been proven to have caused any ill health in NHS care? If it has then assess that individual case but do not tarnish the whole country with this rubbish.
ReplyDeleteYes we pay for the NHS, but it is subsidised and given the choice all of you would stick with our no doubt stick with the current system which supports and safeguards the needy, elderly and long term ill.
Who want to back to hospital its hardly Alton towers!
ReplyDeleteto the person calling me post-natal.
ReplyDeletei ate healthy throughout my pregnancy. my son was underweight due to a condition. it was in fact my Midwife who told me that i was to supplement with formula. my son is now 6 months and is still breastfeeding happily thank you very much. i only had to supplement while in hospital after my MIDWIFE advised me to do so. she told me the food did not have the nutritional value required. the point i was trying to make was that if a midwife tells a mother to supplement because her milk will not be enough due to the food available. this MUST be dealt we. we pay our taxes and things need to change.
to joolz,
ReplyDeleteas i said in my comment my boyfriends father has just recently come out of a NHS hospital in Newcastle and his food was very good. we should be responsible for ourselves. there are people all over the planet, even in MEDCs like America who cannot even dream of what we have, lets all appreciate what we've got and stop complaining ai Britain?
This cause is an absolute joke! Why not put your time into something worthwhile like a Hospital MRSA fight or a fight to raise awareness about other hospital issues that actually affect health?
ReplyDeleteYou say 'this is starting to make me really angry' not once have you said whether you were treated well in hospital surely that should be your primary concern! I would have thrown you out of the ward if i saw you blogging in your bed!!
Hi I am a medical student at Imperial College and am doing a project on hospital food and why they involve celebrity chefs. I watched your documentary and thought it was excellent. I liked your presentation style and the different perspectives you showed. It's so good to see someone passionate about such an important issue and working hard to bring it into the public eye: so thank you :) and best of luck, S x
ReplyDeleteIn Dave Camerons big society and period of austerity, I wouldn't hold my breath while wating for money to be spent on something as trivial as feeding the ill, it will get worse, was it not the last Tory government who started the ball rolling in terms of competative tendering. That was the begining of the end, once the private sector got in and had shareholders they are obliged too, staffing levels dropped, quality dropped, more money was earned from staff dining facilities because the food was being paid for. Patients food was never considered, profit was.
ReplyDeleteShould have gone to specsavers mate
ReplyDelete@NHS Nurse: You are part of the problem. I did say I had excellent medical care. I said it was "second to none". What a great nurse you are if you are willing to throw a patient out of hospital for telling the truth. You should be ashamed of yourself.
ReplyDeleteWhy are people on here stating the health service is free - listen up people ITS NOT FREE!! That's why we pay National Insurance and it is what is supposed to cover the costs of our health service.
ReplyDeleteC U Next Tuesday Tranny man.
ReplyDeleteI could tell you tales of patient catering that would make your hair stand on end, your report is the thick edge of the wedge, it really does get worse, believe me.
ReplyDeleteelevenses tranny man... elevenses???
ReplyDeleteSilver spoon with that?
To Sian Nichols
ReplyDeleteI work in the NHS and was recently admitted for major surgery and the food that is offered to patients is very different to what is on offer to staff/visitors (different caterers). What is served to patients is disgusting and inedible and I could not wait to get home to get a decent meal. I was not expecting restaurant food and if I had been able to walk downstairs to the hospital "restaurant" I would have. Visitors are not allowed to bring meals in for you for fear of food poisoning or contamination. So how do you propose patients help themselves?? The old lady opposite me self discharged herself as she felt she was deteriorating due to poor nutrition and got her family to take her home. I pay my taxes and NI and did not expect to be served such disgusting meals.
Our hospital used to cook patient and staff meals on the premises but now only staff/visitor meals are cooked on the premises and what the patients get is a "steamed" (really microwaved ready meal) meal with practically raw vegetables, uncooked potatoes and chicken that resembles and tastes like wood.
I nursed in a third world country and even the food served to patients there was far better than here.
AT £3.40 a day the NHS can serve far better meals than what is currently on offer and I will be approaching the CE of my hospital on my return to work.
To traction man, you should be ashamed of yourself for biting the hand that feeds!, try doing it on your own and see how far you get, you lucky to have what you have, stop being so ungratefull,
ReplyDeleteive never been so angry i had to go on the internet and say something, unlike you who is obviously compelled to winge on about trivial matters on the internet everyday...dare i say it...grow up????
I agree hospital food is wrong in every way possible. Two years ago my god daughter got taken into hospital as she was really ill, turned out she had diabetes and colic at the age of two. So when she was admitted to hospital family members and friends had to bring my god daughter food in as St Peters Hospital we unable to cater for her needs. This is just dugusting we put our trust in our NHS system and this is what happens when you need them.
ReplyDeleteGlad this show was arid as hopefully it has opened the “big boss’” eyes.
I was very lucky, the food was excellent during my stay at Prince Charles hospital Merthyr Tydfil 2 years ago.
ReplyDeleteIts not the nurses or Health care assistants fault that people don't get what they expect from the food. In the hospital i work in the food is good, the staff on the ward are constantly asking people for help making sure everyone can get to their meal, if the menus not suitable we ask the hospital chef to come and speak to the patient, i always make sure i know which patient needs help with being fed. Why is it that when some of the hospital staff are doing a good job we should be painted with the same brush? I was also a patient in hospital last year and i had to eat the food and the things i ordered looked like what they were meant to be. I know in our trust there is a big thing about nutrition patients have to be weighed on admissin then if they score 1+ they have to be kept on a food diary and weighed 3days later, i know i am trying to do my job to the best of my ability but its hard when the hospital doesnt have the staff to provide the care the public want everyday atleast someone goes off sick or people are on maternity leave or another person has found a better job in the community and they aren't getting replaced there are other things we should be concentrating on to improve the NHS.
ReplyDelete@Traction Man I think i missed the part when you said second to one as i was flabbergasted to hear you asking for venison sausages, steamed salmon and elevensies!
ReplyDeleteThe NHS gets knocked enough without you starting another campaign against us. We work tirelessly to help people for little or no reward and people like you are secretly taking photos of food to make an irrelevant documentary to fill our time. Why couldn't you have documented your 'second to none' care that you say you got? Oh yeah, because scare mongery and controversy get viewing figures. You are the one who should be ashamed!
So how much did he get paid? Tabloid quality press anyone?
ReplyDeletemore than school teachers, police, and oh nurses I can imagine.
ReplyDeletew***er
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteSo how much did he get paid? Tabloid quality press anyone?
lol. yeh i doubt he'll be donating that to the cause...he doesnt even have the balls to reply to our responses, only to attack the NHS nurses who take they're time to train and work to help him
NHS Nurse
ReplyDeleteIf the food was of decent quality, photographing the food would not be a problem and there would be no documentary. The food in hospitals is appalling and of little to no nutritional value. As a nurse you should not be saying it is OK to feed the sick and elderly sub standard food. The quality of care is all well and good but the after-care matters too and food comes into that category.
I am trying to reply but if you had seen the number of responses that I've had, you'd understand that I can't reply to all straight away. For people in the caring profession, some of you NHS workers are utterly vicious and vitriolic. I make no apologies for highlighting an important issue.
ReplyDeleteMark Sparrow
ReplyDeleteUtterly ashamed of this poor documentary.
I am an avid Dispatches fan and this show has tarnished their good name. Totally biased and geared towards publicising yourself as a journalist, you are clearly fame hungry and have not got to grips with the real issues in the NHS.
The quicker this is removed from programming the better.
Sandip Patel
I work in a hospital, and do have close links to catering from a nutritional perspective. Our meals are cooked onsite (although we might be buying in ready prepared puree/modified consistency meals in the near future) I have tasted these brought in meals, and they were very tasty. I don't think the picture you've painted is true for all hospitals. Its difficult for hospital caterers as often the budgets set for them are so low (in some places £1 a DAY!!) I do think this is a problem with does need solving, but you can't make food with no money. (and yes we give patients the option of free choice menus, where they can pick anything in the restaurant, if they are struggling with intake, and one of these choices would be carvery everyday which suits most of our patients). I our particular hospital the feedback is excellent, although i'd say we do still have a problem of limited choices, maybe just 2-3 for each meal, which for long term patients can be a bit repetitive when the cycle repeats. I do wish you could have put a more positive slang on this - whats your solution to the problem? How can you run a catering department, pay staff, buy decent food, for a minimal budget.
ReplyDeleteThe nursing care I received recently was fantastic with a special mention to a young nurse, Stephanie. Unfortunately it is not the nurses' fault for poor food quality, this is down to the hospital Trust. The Trust i both work in and was a patient served sub standard food to patients and this delays healing and recovery.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure how a sick patient recovering from major surgery is supposed to help themselves when it comes to their most basic human need, decent food. My recovery only started really once I was home eating small but nutritional food that was actually cooked, not nuked in a microwave.
I congratulate you for making this important issue so public. It's about time the NHS takes responsibility and admits failure in its ability to provide even the most basic requirement for life......food!!
ReplyDeleteI am an NHS dietitian from a large London hospital who feel helpless against the system. I have been told on multiple occasion to minimise orders of additional snack foods and specialised meals (ie pureed meals) due to budget constraints. To get around this I end up having to prescribe increasing amounts of oral nutritional supplements and enteral feeds to meet the nutritional needs of my patients. No doubt to the satisfaction of the manufacturers of these products!!!
I feel enormously concerned for the patients who never get to see a dietitian in hospital who I know will be consuming less than 1200kcal per day. The calorific provision often prescribed for weight loss!!
No amount of antibiotic or pharmaceutical prescription can heal a patient who is nutritionally starved. We should be ashamed that the situation has got this bad.
Traction man said "some of you NHS workers are utterly vicious and vitriolic" AND YOU NOT BEING EITHER OF THOSE OBVIOUSLY?????
ReplyDeletepot? hello traction man here.....yes it must be difficult having received so many negative responses to read through
Well all i can say is about time.
ReplyDeleteThis tale i'm about to tell you has a very sad ending.
i would visit my antie most days while she recovered in a north wiltshire hospital. Two beds away laid a very poorly old lady who could not feed her self. Her meals would be brought to her bed side by a NURSE who would routinely turn her back when she ased for help. When time came to collect the trays and plates some 30 minutes later the nurse would often say "you have'nt touched you plate, well suite yourself" and just pick up the untouched meal and take it away. The old lady more than once would look over to me and say can you help me love they are trying to kill me in hear.
One day i went in and the lady had been moved into a single room next door and around a week later i was told by my antie that the lady next door had died.
Anecdotal Evidence based on 'people i spoke to'.
ReplyDeleteClear, evidence based cross sectional studies are needed not simply scare stories.
Isn't there an old marketing saying that if you have a good experience you tell one person but if you have a bad one you tell ten?
The NHS serves millions every year, to find even several thousand examples you are only scratching the surface.
If its a real issue then approach it properly - if its not then make a an overly dramatic scare-mongering documentary.
Okay, Sian. Whatever!
ReplyDeleteI am so shocked at some of the negative comments on here. My dad died in hospital through neglect by hospital staff. He went into hospital with a broken leg and three months later died through starvation. You would think that he was elderly.....but sadly not, i was 25 when i was arranging his funeral. As pointed out in the documentary tonight, some hospitals get it spot on but more disturbingly most do not and this must change. The subject is the most important issue here, not how it was delivered or by whom, I hope and pray that the petition does its job before more people suffer.
ReplyDeleteI will say one of the night staff nurses was a complete couldnt care less person and was definitely in the wrong profession. ~Every night she was rude and abrupt towards patients. But she was a minority, thankfully.
ReplyDeleteWell done Traction Man for highlighting patient food issues in Dispatches.
"Whatever" This guy is a joke he makes my blood boil!
ReplyDeleteHardly an educated response, you sound like vicky pollard.
Surely a "seasoned journalist" as you are quite happy to point out in you self serving documentary should be able to construct and reasoned argument.
What are channel 4 thinking giving this guy and this cause air time without proper research and findings?!?!
Oh Sian Nichol - please read the other comments and realise that the majority of people support TM. You are not doing yourself any favours by taking the high ground without seeing that so many others feel the same way as he does - most have experienced the bad nutrition in hospitals and one of them is an NHS Dietician! So he really knows what he's talking about.
ReplyDeleteIt's not only long term patients that get a bad deal with hospital food. I ended up in Addenbrookes, Cambridge, A & E one afternoon and it was just after midnight before I got allocated to a ward. The nurse asked if I was hungry, "We have plenty of sandwiches", she said with enthusiasm! Next morning a bowl of cornflakes was forthcoming and plenty more sandwiches to choose from! Come midday I chose a hot meal from the menu only to be subsequently told that there were no hot meals available until the evening. "Would I like to chose something from the selection of sandwiches instead?". A very exciting choice for a coeliac, NOT. Guess what - a survey on hospital food dropped through my letter box a few days later, but did it ask MY views? Not really - it asked me to tick boxes to a list of standard questions which would probably be fed back to a digital data base. Of course the "computer says no" to REAL people with REAL opinions
ReplyDeleteTraction Man said...
ReplyDeleteOkay, Sian. Whatever!
if thats the only response you can think of and you call yourself a jouralist then i have lost any shred of respect i ever did have for you. YOu cannot even hold up your end of an arguemtn with a 22year old girl. i see none of your FAMOUS sense of humor poking through. im assuming by the fact you never answered the guessing that you spent your hefty little dispatches pay lump on yourself then, not helping this cause you care oh so passionately about. i have better things to do with my time than complain so i will go, unlike one old certain miserable old man. Go and spend the rest of your life going out and enjoying yourself and making that your poor wife of yours happy, maybe make her a meal for once eh? rather than slagging off the nurses in hospitals who jut want to help you without being abused over national TV
I cant believe people are using this forum to rubbish Nurses. Is this documentary about food standards or nursing standards?!?! I also cant believe that people have left family members in hospital starving for up to 3 months without doing anything?! And you expect us to believe nurses and doctors have let this happen? Couls you have not taken in food from home for him?Some of these stories are clearly fictional to support Tractionman!!
ReplyDeleteJust watched the programme on 4+1. I caught the end of it first time round. You were spoilt!!!!! LOL!
ReplyDelete2 week menu rota? Choose the day before?
I did a week in Lincoln in 2008. We chose the day before, and had multiple options. I was then moved to City, Nottingham.
1 week menu rotation.
Evening meal came up in an oversized Hostess trolley around 4pm. Stood next to 'kitchen' until food was started to be dispensed at 5pm. The trolley wasn't closed to keep in the heat, and the food stewed nicely. Ice creams that were put in as dessert option came in same trolley (seriously!) and never saw the freezer/fridge unless we put them in our ward fridges.
The food we got went cold unless we scoffed it like savages.
Whilst I was there, we had a visit from HRH Prince Charles to congratulate the Trust for its use of fresh, locally produced food. He had freshly battered cod that day. We had battered fish, in batter you needed a chisel to break open. It was a smooth batter and not great if you had ulcers etc in the mouth.
Sunday lunch was interesting. Thinly sliced beef, and I mean THIN, and like I said, stone cold in seconds. OR... 'Shepherds Pie' that looked soo vegan that most Vegans would complain about lack of substance!
I wanted to do a blog about my treatment. Sadly the Hospital's broadband feed filtered out any blogsites at their root, so Blogger.com, blogspot.com and others were off limits, in case we happened to see 'pornagraphic material'. I didn't do the typo there, they did.
Another thing was.. they would start serving food from one spot, and work their way round the ward, which was comprised of bays, and single person rooms. Bays had 2-4 folks a time. On the rare occasion they started from the opposite end, and I mean rare.. Boy did the folks complain!
Btw NHS_Nurse. He didn't ASK for venison sausages. He got some in the diner at the Hospital. He said he'd never had any before.It was being complimentary about that place, compared to the stuff he had.
I'm hoping someone will start a campaign against GPs getting their mitts on the NHS purse strings. Getting past them for a referral/cancer diagnosis is a challenge beyond Indiana Jones.
ReplyDeleteHi Mark
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I would like to say how much I support your campaign.
However, I have just finished watching the dispatches documentary on Channel 4 and although I found it very interesting I am outraged by your report concerning Crewe's Leighton Hospital. The programme seemed to suggest that Leighton Hospital was at the forefront of patient care and nutrition. I'd like to inform you that it certainly is not!!! Perhaps on the wards containing mainly elderly people the hospital is taking more steps than most hospitals, this is not true for the high dependency ward however.
In June 2010 I was admitted to Leighton Hospital for a procedure that had never been done there before, the operation didn't have a success rate.
After my operation I had to beg the nurses for a drink, when they eventually provided me with one it was put well out of reach and due to the morphine in my system I didn't have the strength to pick the cup up. No one helped me for hours until my friend came and got me a straw.
That evening my parents came at visiting time after the evening meal had been provided, upon asking the nursing staff where my meal was my parents were told that I was asleep at the wrong time and there were no meals left. My dad brought me a sandwich and after I woke up later it had been taken from my room, I wasn't given anything else.
The next morning for breakfast I was given a bap and a sachet of jam. Due to the morphine I was unable to even open the sachet. I sat for hours with no help. I wasn't given anything else to eat until the evening meal which was inedible.
My parents had decided that if the staff advised I stay in for the weekend they would have to remove me from the hospital. In total, I was in hospital for 34 hours and had 2 cups of water.
I'd like to say how brilliant the surgical staff were but the incompetence and inefficiency of the nursing staff was astounding. I believe that your report about Leighton Hospital was incomplete and gives an inaccurate impression of the hospital as a whole. I fear this could have a negative effect on people who lodge complaints against the hospital in the future, as the hospital can now rely on your report.
I am pleased that at long last the elderly are being fed decently in that hospital I just wonder how long, if ever, the same standards will be rolled out across the rest of the wards.
Many thanks
Disappointed Patient
(name can be supplied on request)
To Sian
ReplyDeleteMaybe if you didnt attack someone verbally like you are instead of actually debating with valid points then you might get somewhere. All you are showing is immaturity. Poor patient nutrition is nothing to make light or fun of. TM was not slagging off the nurses but the food but you so clearly have missed the point of the programme completely.
Ta
Translation please for sian's Jedward-like rant at 22.26?
ReplyDeleteWhat's his wife got to do with it? What's how he spent his fee got to do with it?
What's English got to do with your rant?
I cant get it up. Can we discuss that now please?
ReplyDelete@Joolz
ReplyDeleteI quote tractionman "For people in the caring profession, some of you NHS workers are utterly vicious and vitriolic"
I lived the other end of the country, phoned every day and spoke to staff who told me he was fine, please dont judge me. Sadly he was not. My case may have been a one of but and at age 25 i completely trusted and had faith in the NHS and had no reason to question his care at the time. I have many regrets and sadly not standing up sooner will always be one of them. Nurses are generally great and do a very stressful job but we were let down by a catalogue of errors, beginning with the quality of the food. Lets not forget that this is the main issue, we need a better standard of food in hospitals.
ReplyDeleteIm sorry to hear that. You're are right this is the issue, it's just a pity that TM didn't portray this in the documentary, i think that is wy this has enraged so many people
ReplyDeletejoolz...
ReplyDeleteim showing immaturity? your fuckign hilarious.
YOU have just attacked someone verbally, ie. me
YOU obviously are not making valid points as you are clearly not listening to what he said in the programe, or maybe you are showing immaturity by the inability to read his comments where he called the staff...let me see erm...quoting now
"some of you NHS workers are utterly vicious and vitriolic"
i did not MISS the point of the program i am not simply swayed by Chinese wispers, lies and televised scare mongering. I clearly state my argument on my first comment. can you read? do i need to give you a lesson in the classroom?
i think it's you who may be needs teaching a lesson.
ReplyDeleteNHS nurse - 98% of the people posting on here are enraged about the NHS - food and other issues - only you and a couple of others are 'enraged' that anyone should dare to make valid comments and complaints regarding standards. Brilliant documentary. Thank you for your efforts TM.
ReplyDeleteThese comments have given me quite a chuckle. Great show by the way.
ReplyDeleteHands up who thinks Sian works at the Sodexo factory!
To Sian
ReplyDeleteOh I watched the programme but yes you are showing your immaturity by verbally attacking and swearing!!
And yes some nursing staff are vicious and vitriolic, one of the night nurses on my ward where I was an inpatient would have been better suited to being a prison warden, not a nurse. But she was a minority.
Neither am I swayed by Chinese whispers as I was once a nurse and now work in administration in a hospital and WAS recently an inpatient for major surgery and has seen and experienced the terrible food served to patients as I was a patient myself. But you are now basically accusing those who have had bad experiences regarding hospital food for patients as scaremongering and Chinese whispers. Your argument is flawed in being patronising and abusive in your comments.
And yes I can read and no I do not wish to be educated by a foul mouth in a classroom, thank you very much. I wasnt raised to swear at others in a debate.
Traction Man "I think it takes a fair and balance look at nutrition in our hospitals and how it affects different types of patients. I hope you all get a chance to watch it and let me know what you think." Joke!
ReplyDeleteTranslation please for Roger the Shrubbers anal rant at 22.33?
ReplyDeleteim telling him to go enjoy his life rather than find things to complain about.
If your a shrubber why havent you pulled that stick out of your arse?
What's self pity got to do with your rant?
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteNHS nurse - 98% of the people posting on here are enraged about the NHS - food and other issues - only you and a couple of others are 'enraged' that anyone should dare to make valid comments and complaints regarding standards. Brilliant documentary. Thank you for your efforts TM.
HOWEVER the documentary only aired an hour, this thread was started a long time ago by followers of this campaign
'sian' just attacked the author suggesting that the nurses had trained etc.
ReplyDeleteQuote :
lol. yeh i doubt he'll be donating that to the cause...he doesnt even have the balls to reply to our responses, only to attack the NHS nurses who take they're time to train and work to help him :End quote.
For a profession that's based on observations (first at6am, last at 11pm, for me), observing seems an alien concept for sian....
It's THEIR, not they're for crying out loud!
He wasn't criticizing per se the nursing staff for their other duties. It's the FOOD, and the way the FOOD was SERVED, or not, in cases where folks were denied food because of sleeping at serving time or other excuses.
If you are incapable of providing a cogent coherent argument, and at first sleight, get abusive, how the fuck can you expect any other response than 'Whatever!!!!!' ?
All i wanted was a balanced, objective documentary that maybe gave a conclusion and some possible solutions. I am not against constructive criticism, but when TM complains about food because its not steamed salmon or befitting of his palette it enrages me and that is why i felt the need to come on here.
ReplyDeleteHospital food should be based on nutrition not "ala carte" menus its not a 5 star retreat. If you want that go private, simple!
Millions of people are served foor everyday in hospital yet TM makes it sound like everyone is being fed gruel and they are starving to death.
People need to take some responsibility for themselves and stop expecting to be fed venison in hospital its simply not realistic! Im not sure what TM eats at home but he shouldn't expect quails eggs and caviar when he is being treat for a medical condition.
I guarantee that the meals provided are equally balanced providing protein/carbs and fat to aid recovery and a balanced diet. If there are special requests do you really think they are ignored and people are left to starve?! Ridiculous!
lol, got nothing better to do than fail to win an argument with a little girl? i feel sorry for all of you.... if you read not just my comments but the comments of others you'll find your queries answered and you can go to bed as not to be late to wake up and get on the scales at weight watchers in the morning, doesnt seem that many of you really need any more food your already full of shite
ReplyDeletegoodnight
@Sian Nichol
ReplyDeleteYou don't come across too well.
Hope your using your real name, your future job prospects won't look so good after you sober-up and review your comments.
In the last six weeks i have seen two sides to the hospital meal situation. After a hysterectomy, care of the NHS in a private hospital, I was given a menu to choose my meals from. The menu was varied and had lots of lighter options which are preferable after major surgery when you need your appetite tempting. A week later however I was rushed into an NHS hospital as an emergency for a different matter. The food was utterly appalling.
ReplyDeleteThere was no menu, meals were delivered in a heated trolley, there were two choices of meal (see how you fancy having to choose between bangers and mash or fish fingers, baked beans and mash when you've been vomiting for 48 hours) and the sandwiches truly dreadful (dry boiled egg sandwiches with no butter!)
I left there having lost over half a stone due to being ill and unable to stomach the muck I was served. Yes, people in the world are starving, which is unacceptable in this day and age, but this is Not the issue at hand. The NHS is not free, we pay for it in tax. The nursing staff were wonderful, but that is only half the job, to get well all people in hospital need to be offered a variety of good food. A bowl of soup or a salad would have been nice instead of the greasy mess I was given, something good that would tempt you to eat. As patients we are not here to be awkward or cause problems, we are there to be cared for so we can return home as quickly as possible. We are all responsible for helping starving people in third world countries, however, I am also responsible for getting well enough to be able to look after my children here in this country.
As usual, instead of actually acknowledging there is a problem, people choose to point the finger and slag everyone else off despite seeing the evidence of experts. This won't change anything, stop avoiding the issue and sort it!!
Anonymous said...
ReplyDelete@Sian Nichol
You don't come across too well.
Hope your using your real name, your future job prospects won't look so good after you sober-up and review your comments.
i actually dont drink. Job prospects? with whom exactly? i already have a fabulous career mate, im an art teacher amongst other things. whats it got to so with you? why so concerned? mind your own business. at least i have the confidence in my beliefs to use my real name not some pathetic lighthearted, "im so cool i have to have a pseudonym" internet nickname
To Sian
ReplyDeleteI do not own or need to own scales, nor do I need to belong to Weight Watchers; so please keep your misguided and Chinese whispers about others to a minimum. There is debate and there is abuse - your comments border on the abusive side which does show immaturity.
To NHS Nurse
No patient expects Michelin or restaurant food, what a patient will expect is edible food whilst recovering from an illness or surgery. However what is served in some hospitals is neither appetising in appearance nor look like it has any nutrition left in it to be of any benefit.
This programme highlighted and showed exactly what patients are served under the disguise of nutritional balanced meals.
He also highlighted the difference as to what is on offer in hospital "restaurants" for staff/visitors and what is offered to patients - a big difference in quality, for which I have witnessed in the Trust I work in and was recently had the misfortune to be a patient.
NHS Nurse... He's not expecting venison sausages. I know it's out of the usual 'Obs' times but please! He didn't request quails eggs! He wanted Hungarian goulash (sp?) that looked remotely like goulash. He wanted shepherds pie that looked like shepherds pie, not what got picked up from the streets after a busy night in town after Antony Costa has been to the ATM! He wanted edible food. The photos showed what the stuff was in theory differed greatly from practice.
ReplyDeleteHe also wasn't complaining about other areas of care. It wasn't ABOUT care, it was about FOOD. Surely as a nurse, you'd know that edible food makes patients so much better, and helps aid recovery, and you'd get faster turn over of beds.. If the only decent grub you get has to be brought in by friends/family, then its not great, eh?
Traction Man....
ReplyDeleteWatched the documentry, top marks to all concerned. I've not been in hospital as a patient, but have seen first hand the food that is served. Now a few comments about some of the things that have been said since it aired.
Mark said several times that he received excellent medical care, at least twice iirc.
Miss M said: "Food is so unimportant when there are many bigger issues that need addressing." What on earth are you talking about?!. Of course food is important. Which planet are you living on Miss M?.
Someone mentioned about the photography of the food and how the same style could make M+S food look rubbish. He was in a hospital bed, not a bloody TV studio. Trust me the food does look like that crap in real life.
@Sian Nichols...as has already been said, i hope YOU never have to go into hospital and experiance these meals.
Keep up the good work Mark!
DP
"I have witnessed in the Trust I work in and was recently had the misfortune to be a patient"
ReplyDeletemust be terrible to have healthcare available to everyone...poor poor you, stay at home next time
joolz-
ReplyDeleteTo Sian
I do not own or need to own scales, nor do I need to belong to Weight Watchers; so please keep your misguided and Chinese whispers about others to a minimum. There is debate and there is abuse - your comments border on the abusive side which does show immaturity.
that comment wasted aimed at you, all you seem able to do is fire my insults back at me..a bit sad really
sian's a teacher? Why does that not surprise me. How much training did you do to misspell their, dear? Your lessons must be wonderful if at the drop of a hat, you get all abusive f-wordy and all. Do you get much cooperation from others, with your (or do YOU spell that you're?) rants?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous at 23.18
ReplyDeleteI had to have urgent major surgery and I have paid my taxes and NI all my adult life and yet this is the first time in over 18 years since my son was born that I needed to be hospitalised. I have paid for my healthcare. I look at my recent inpatient stay as a misfortune, a misfortune for falling ill.
I also hope you never need emergency major surgery for circumstances out of your control Anonymous.
It should also be noted that Mark was in a hospital a long way from home, too far for family and friends to pop in daily with food !
ReplyDeleteLansdown
Hello Mark,
ReplyDeleteI've just come away from the Dispatches programme, and have signed the petition. I am a fellow blogger as well as an inpatient much of the time. I have Systemic Lupus, and although I have had many lengthy hospital stays, none were as long as my 84 days in 2009. I lost over a stone in weight, which left me at 6 stone, and I was on a feeding tube for much of the stay.
I understand the attitude that one ought to be grateful for any food at all; indeed that attitude is precisely why we as NHS patients are unable to really and truly speak our minds about the food. Who to speak to? Who will listen? It becomes part of the guilty process of being looked after at all. There is a strong current of guilt within the 'free' NHS system wouldn't you agree?
The nutritional value of food going into my body alongside the infusions is always counterproductive. How to fight off auto-immune infections with a body lacking in energy and vitamins?
I am so glad you are tackling this issue with passion, honesty and balance. And it has also been really interesting reading the dialogue preceding my comment. Will be following your blog from now on!
Dear sian managed to spell Weight watchers correctly, so 'You Go Girl' for that.
ReplyDeleteI started my time in hospital at 14 stones. I'd already lost a stone before the hospital stay/chemo started. When I exited hospital, after a few periods at home, with regular deliveries of fruit/treats, 4 months later, I was 10 stones. As nhs nurse might back me up, I took regular checks of my weight, as was required for 'Obs', along with blood pressure/pulse. To be honest, I couldn't give a shit, literally, as for ages, all that came out was water, with what looked like fried seaweed. Fluid records were pointless.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletea man who discusses his toilet habits with others no dignity nor class : William S Burroughs
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Mark!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for creating this brilliant Blog, it is amazing and it will make a big difference I think.
I'd like to share with you an experience I had in hospital, in January last year...
I went into The Royal London Hospital for some tests on my digestive system, because I'd been unable to eat without being seriously ill.
I couldn't actually eat and was put on a diet of 028 Elemental drinks (pre-digested drinks).
For some reason I was only allowed to have 2 drinks per day! The drinks have 215 calories each, and I was supposed to be on 10 drinks per day.
But even on 2 drinks per day, the nurses wouldn't even bring my 2 drinks! They kept forgetting to bring them and I was so weak I couldn't get up and walk around searching for a nurse to bring them. And whenever they did bring them, the drinks they brought me hadn't been refrigerated and were warm and totally disgusting to drink.
A few of the nurses kept dishing me up full plates of food, and would leave them by my bed, even though they knew I couldn't eat it, because I was too ill to eat solid foods and had been prescribed a liquid diet.
The nurses kept telling me I was missing out on all the delicious flavors and foods and would hold the plate right under my nose. Its like they were rubbing in the fact that I couldn't eat it. I was clearly in a state of semi-starvation and frankly would have given anything to have eaten it, simply because it was food.
I was already severely underweight, when admitted, at a BMI of 15. I was almost totally starved for the entire week I spent in hospital, I lost 4 kilograms in weight, when I came out my BMI was closer to 13 and I was very very weak and ill.
Awful... I'm so glad its over...
xxx
Such a great programme, i commend you! The longest i've been in hospital is a couple of weeks, but during the first week i couldn't eat. When i was finally allowed to try food again, they presented me with a packaged sandwich- chicken. I had no options, they simply handed this to me. I'm both a vegetarian and have Coeliac disease, so obviously i couldn't eat it. When i mentioned this to the nurse she best she could do was get me a small bowl of cornflakes. I was quite horrified. I had been starved for 4 days, without being able to drink or eat, was on a drip and when i finally get the chance to eat i get cornflakes.
ReplyDeleteSince having many visits to the hospital in the past couple of years i've been presented with an all mannner of things which i've had no choice but to leave, even though i stated on the options food card about my food requirements. I would have killed for a plain jacket potato, anything at all! And everytime i get presented with the same.. crap? that i can't even eat! You'd think if they offered low fat options etc etc, that they'd have the knowledge and means to feed people with allergies and intolerantces. Thankyou for such a great programme presenting the issues the NHS really need to address. xx
sian said...
ReplyDeletea man who discusses his toilet habits with others no dignity nor class : William S Burroughs
I'd rather discuss it than talk it.
YOU brought up Weight Watchers. The topic was supposed to be about how nasty hospital food was, and you and nhs_nurse were trying to suggest it was slagging off pastoral duties of the nursing staff, and NOT food related. If, therefore, the food was SOO great and SOOOO healthy, then one's 'afterthought' should be at least moderately normal, no? And one wouldn't lose weight if the only exercise is walking to the loo, or taking a shower.. no?
I've seen the likes of 'Sian' on numerous message boards/forums/blogs. They visit in order to stir up trouble and draw attention to themselves. Just ignore her, and she'll soon get bored and disappear.
ReplyDeleteHi wanted to write to you personally. I have recently started doing a nursing degree in mental health. Since been on placements i have experianced first hand the quality of food and its shocking. I was in my forst placemnt for 7 weeks and seen a patient loose over a stone in weight. All the choices of food are mince meat disguised as a dish alongside some form of potatos peas or a sandwich. Day in and day out these patients are there for long periods some even years. I feel like my job role is too give good care and get people well and back home and this situation is a major knock back with every single service user i have come across. Im with you 100% and if they was a way i could make a differnce personally i would.
ReplyDeleteI've just watched the documentary on C4. I support and agree with everything you said. I would have liked to have seen the NHS food that you were forced to endure taken to an independent lab for testing, then evaluated by a chef & food nutritionist.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the only food that should be served on a hospital site, is the exact same food patients receive. If its good enough for the patients, then it's good enough for the staff & visitors canteen. Staff complaining about wretched food will have far more weight than numbers on a piece of paper from the patient surveys.
sian said...
ReplyDeletea man who discusses his toilet habits with others no dignity nor class : William S Burroughs
He was also a hopeless alcoholic whose expensive lawyers managed to convince a jury that he had shot his wife by accident. His slender reputation rests on the turgid pornography that he wrote. Not really a man I would advocate as a role model for dignity or class.
Wow...I'm glad that a few people realize that socialized medicine is NOT FREE. You and I pay for it.
ReplyDeleteThey are not expecting 5 star treatment, just nutritious food that is visually and texturally appealing. When ill, taste is altered and so the food MUST be appealing in order to be eaten.
As for those who think that XTM is biting the hand that feeds him...well, there might be more nutrition in the hand than in the glutenous mess given to the ill.
I agree, nutritious food does not have to look good to deliver the needed nutrients to the weakened body. BUT it does need to have those vitamins and minerals that are needed to heal the body. THAT is the core issue here. Over-cooked food lacks the nutrients needed to sustain a healthy body never mind a compromised one.
As for appearance, it certainly helps that the food looks edible and most of the photos XTM posted I wouldn't touch--and I have a cast iron stomach! If one is gagging from the smell and texture of the meal, then whatever value there may be left after the overcooking will not enter the bloodstream because it will be making a U-turn before entering the system! (barfing in case you don't get it).
Dear mark. I had a stay back in hospital back in dec 1999, but thankfully it was not over xmas. lol. I cant remember much about the food i ordered but fo what i can remember it was really nice, i had a lovely choice for my breakfast of cereal, yogurt and tea or coffee, i could even have toast and marmalade, for lunch it was very hot and tasty soup and a roll or bread, or a sandwich and for tea was different everyday obviously, one night i had corned beef hash and chips it was truely yummy, they had no complaints from me full stop, this was the west suffolk hopsital in bury st edmunds.
ReplyDeleteDear Mark,
ReplyDeleteI have stayed in hospital in Austria, England, and in Norway, and I can assure you that the type and quality (or rather lack thereof) of food are exactly the same in all three countries. These are countries with the best public health care systems in the world! Thank you so much for focusing on this!
I have been in hospital a few times recently, and have been very satisfied with the food provided, ( I am not a fussy eater!)
ReplyDeleteI cannot understand why the National Health does not charge for meals. We should have free health-care, not free food. I believe that in German hospitals patients have to pay for their meals. Even pensioners, if not in hospital would have to buy food when living at home so could afford a minimal daily charge of say £5.00.I think we take too much for granted in this country.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeletesian said...
a man who discusses his toilet habits with others no dignity nor class : William S Burroughs
He was also a hopeless alcoholic whose expensive lawyers managed to convince a jury that he had shot his wife by accident. His slender reputation rests on the turgid pornography that he wrote. Not really a man I would advocate as a role model for dignity or class.
and what so pray have you achieved in your life? William Borroughs was and a world renowned author and millionaire off his own back... you are merely an anonymous reply on a message board. William Burroughs is a literary legend, you are a pointless waste of nuclei
libby said:
ReplyDeleteAs for those who think that XTM is biting the hand that feeds him...well, there might be more nutrition in the hand than in the glutenous mess given to the ill.
no understanding of fables there then. someone should explain to you the moral of that story, you clearly have no grasped the concept of it
I'd rather discuss it than talk it- by the way PAM this actually means the same thing!
ReplyDeletei started out by voicing my negative opinions on the show along with many other people doing the same, i thought it was a poor portrayal of the nurses throughout. I am entitled to my opinion as was only asking for Traction mans response. Another commenter couldn't believe that such a ground breaking, excellent show as DISPATCHES commissioned this garbage and paid this idiot x amount of money to rattle off his middle class bullshit about how we're just not treated good enough in this country anymore...JESUS CHRIST... what an awful life you do live mate! cozied up in you big house, just full of worthless drivel to poor into your notebook which no one wants to read for fear of becoming a procrastinating, ungrateful, pretentious wreck like you. Everyone is keen to tell me I"m wrong and that we shouldn't be grateful for what we've got but no ones willing to do anything but moan or god forbid put themselves out of pocket to help out others. Healthcare NIMBYs maybe??? I HAVE kept up a sustained argument answering every accusation and question you fired at me, i can hardly say you did the same, when i pointed out the flaws in your replies you grasped at straws to totally forget that the conversation was about NHS food and picked out the errors in my fast typing, sorry guys i cant be bothered to spend fifteen minutes writing a grammatically perfect message board post to all of you with the holes in your arguments and the unimaginative retorts underlined... it would take a good hour and i just cant be bothered. I didn't want a personal bitch fight with all you gutless anonymous posters but look what its come to.
Enjoy the rest of your complaining and straw clutching whilst your still around because as a species we just don't do enough! JOKE... put all that negative, sexually frustrated energy into being a better person and enjoying your existence, as it is now... when you do die everyone will be nothing but relieved