How much money do hospitals spend on their patient's meals? New data shows how much hospitals are spending on their patient's meals, but high cost doesn't necessarily mean good grub.
Data has been released this week showing how much money various NHS trusts spend on feeding their patients.
The data comes from annual Patient Environment Action Team (PEAT) assessments of inpatient services completed by staff, Care Quality Commision Commision patient surveys, and the Hospital and Estates 2011-2012 report. It was compiled by Sustain, a group campaigning for better food in hospitals that includes 97 patient organisations.
There is a wide range in what the various hospitals spend on providing three meals a day to patients. Barts are the most generous, spending £15.65 per patient per day, while Gateshead Health NHS foundation spend just £2.94 per patient per day, making the difference between the most expensive menu and the cheapest £12.71.
Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust got the worse patient rating for its meals, with only 3.8 in every 10 patients, rating it as 'good'. Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust was rated highest, with 7.9 in 10 patients declaring the meals 'good'. Both the best and worst rated trusts spend a similar amount on meals, around £13, suggesting there is little correlation between expense and quality.
The data looks at whether the food is cooked in-house, centrally within the trust, or delivered from outside. Five of the ten worse rated hospitals, including Heatherwood and Wrexham, have their meals delivered. Another poorly rated menu, that of Bradford Teaching Hospitals, uses a mixed system. Conversely, six of the top rate menus are cooked and produce in-house.
Despite this, the majority of NHS trusts get meals delivered in from outside. 58 of the 148 NHS Hospital Trusts that we have data for had meals delivered, while 49 cook and serve meals in-house. 33 trusts have a central kitchen which serves the various hospitals within it.
Sustain want to improve patient meals by having legislation introduced that requires them to meet mandatory quality, nutritional and environmental standards. There are minimum standards in other institutions, for example prisons, but not in hospitals.
The full data, including information on whether meals are cooked in-house or delivered and what the staff think of the patient's meals (by hospital trust) can be found in the downloadable spreadsheet. The table below shows the cost of feeding a patient three meals a day by hospital trust. The Guardian
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