Celebrity chef reviews and initiatives fail to improve hospital food

After several failed initiatives and after wasting£54m without favourable results, Sustain calls for compulsory nutritional standard for hospitals.

13:13 23 February 2013

The government has spent £54million on various initiatives, commonly promoted by food experts and celebrity chefs, aimed at improving hospital food without getting favourable results. 

Its report suggests that compulsory nutritional standards are needed in order to improve patient meals. The report also highlighted the fact that for the past two decades, there had been little improvement despite the help of celebrity chefs in promoting various initiatives. 

 

Loyd Grossman, who led the government’s Better Hospital Food initiative blamesthe lack of political will.

 

He said: "My team and I worked hard for five years to improve patient meals but progress was much slower than we would have liked. Although we had a number of successes, we did not achieve the transformation which we had hoped for and which patients deserve.

 

“While I could see what needed to be done and what could be done, our efforts were hampered by a lack of political will. 

 

Albert Roux, who ran the Michelin-starred Le Gavroche, said that improving patient meals isn’t overly difficult. 

 

"If we have learned anything from the last 20 years it is that meetings, speeches and gimmicks do not work – what we need now is change to the whole hospital food system, starting with the introduction of food standards for every patient meal."