An expert has cautioned that hospitalised patients who are fed subpar food may recover more slowly.
The outcome, according to dietician Dr Carrie Ruxton, is a prolonged hospital stay at a time when the NHS is struggling to fill beds.
The alert was issued in response to the Mail’s discovery of an increasing number of patient complaints over the standard of food being provided at healthcare facilities throughout the nation, including Glasgow’s renowned Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH).
Yesterday, the Scottish Government intervened in the dispute and declared that it was looking into the situation.
Dr Ruxton said, ‘Nutrition takes on greater importance when people are recovering from illness.
‘The risks of providing poor-quality, unappetizing food in hospitals are greater for those who need lengthy recoveries.
‘Appetite is typically worse in hospitals due to pain, fear, or medication. Meals can be missed because of fasting for operations, tests, or ward rounds.
‘If patients don’t get the nutrition they need, recovery is slower and hospital stays are longer, putting extra pressure on NHS budgets.
‘That’s why it’s in the interests of hospital managers to work with their catering staff to make good nutrition in hospitals a priority.’
Health bosses were forced to apologise this week after serving a patient a ‘disgusting’ meal while he was in the hospital.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said it had ‘fallen below the standards’ after an image showing a bare-looking turkey dinner, served at the QEUH, went viral.
Writing on X, the patient’s daughter Lara said, ‘This is the lunch served to my father in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Glasgow, today. An absolute disgrace. Disgusting.’
The tweet sparked a flood of similar grievances from patients who had received bland hospital food.
Scottish Daily Mail readers contacted reporters with their own experiences of ‘inedible’ food at the QEUH. One said his care was ‘first class’ but he could not eat the meals.
He added: ‘I spent two lengthy periods last February and March in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. During both stays, the food served was completely inedible.
‘I lived on sandwiches from home, and when I asked nurses if they ate food served on the ward, they asked me if I was joking.
‘Thankfully, care while in hospital was first-class.’
Another sent a photograph of a stodgy ‘ravioli’ meal served to her father at the QEUH. Despite the fact that he had suffered a heart attack, he was given a large serving of a congealed-looking cheese dish.
Of course, there is no money for patients, but NHS management leads wonderful lives.
Honestly, prison food is better than the rubbish they dish up in hospitals.
It seems that the number of management tiers is excessive. Spending on patients, particularly the supply of wholesome meals, has to increase.
The catering company and the Trust collaborate to create the meals. Everything you see here is from the day’s approved menu.
No one tiptoed in and put this extremely poor quality food in the kitchens under the cover of darkness. This IS a sample of what the various Trusts agreed to serve to their poorly patients, and it’s unacceptable, and I’m guessing that all these managers have private health coverage as part of their employment package – you know, the package we pay for.
The body needs sustenance to function, and you can’t improve while eating such obscene junk.
Generally, I don’t eat the hospital food while in there, but then I have family to bring me food. Some are not so fortunate and have to rely on the hospital to feed them. However, while you’re in the hospital you are under their care, therefore they should be feeding you a substantial meal, that’s what we pay our taxes for, that and the care that we are given, although some are better than others.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 