The Campaign for Better Hospital Food undertook a survey of food standards in NHS hospitals, Taking the Pulse of Hospital Food, using London as a test case. Thirty out of 39 of London’s acute hospitals responded. The study shows that half of hospitals are failing to meet basic food standards, and nearly two thirds are failing to cook fresh food for their patients. The report reveals many hospitals are struggling to serve and sell freshly prepared, healthy and ethically sourced food for patients, staff and hospital visitors. Half of London hospitals say they are not meeting basic hospital food standards and under a third (only 30%) of hospitals say they are cooking fresh food on-site for their patients. Disappointingly, the report results show that about a fifth of hospitals (17 per cent) said they serve food to patients in plastic ready meal trays, a fifth of hospitals (20 per cent) do not provide patients with a hot meal if they miss mealtimes, and over a quarter of hospitals (27 per cent) do not ask patients about their food experiences, which might otherwise provide the incentive to improve food standards. In contrast, two thirds of hospitals had taken six or more positive actions to improve the food experience for their patients. The key findings are as follows: • 50% of hospitals surveyed met all five hospital food standards required in the NHS Standard Contract for hospitals • 67% of hospitals reported that they have already met the health and wellbeing CQUIN food targets or were working towards meeting them by the March 2017 deadline • 24-hour access to healthy food for staff is the CQUIN target where most hospitals were lagging behind (only 40% had met this target by the time we closed the survey) • 60% of Trusts surveyed reported their NHS Trust had a food and drink strategy (a requirement in the NHS Standard Contracts), but only 25% covered all the required criteria • 75% of Trusts reported they had CEO buy-in to improve food standards • 30% of hospitals surveyed cooked fresh food for adult patients • 42% cooked fresh food for paediatrics patients • 77% of hospitals cooked fresh food for staff • 10% of hospitals had a Good Farm Animal Welfare Award for staff and visitor food • 21% of hospitals had signed up to the London Healthy Workplace Charter Katherine Button, coordinator of the Campaign for Better Hospital Food, said, “The Government has failed to take seriously the dire state of hospital food for too long and now half of London hospitals are not meeting even basic food standards. Good food plays an essential role in recovery, well-being and morale, and patients and staff in NHS hospitals deserve better. The standard of food in schools and in prisons is protected by legal minimum standards and we demand the same high quality food for patients, staff and visitors eating in hospitals.” Jo Ralling, Jamie Oliver Food Foundation Campaign Manager and supporter of the campaign, said, “The Campaign for Better Hospital Food’s report is a must read for all policy makers in the country. We’ve had legal food standards for schools and prisons for a decade, there’s no reason we can’t extend these same protections to hospitals. Let’s all work together to get NHS patients and staff the good healthy food they deserve.” Prue Leith, new Bake Off presenter and hospital food champion, who wrote the foreword to the research report, said, “Hospital food has a deservedly poor reputation and NHS patients and staff deserve better. This report shows that at the moment most hospitals are not serving fresh, tasty and wholesome food so we must have legal standards, like those already in place for school food and prison food, to make sure good food is a priority in our hospitals.” Overall, despite glowing performance across the board from some hospitals the general standard of hospital food is inconsistent and compliance with food standards is low. Therefore, the Campaign for Better Hospital Food strongly recommends that tough standards should be written into legislation, and checked with regular inspections, to make sure hospitals uphold these crucial food standards. (source: Campaign for Better Hospital Food)