Catering

Veronica Hall Deputy Hotel Services Manager - Catering ON THIS PAGE: Mission Statement and Aims Catering Services Structure Better Hospital Foods The Meal Service The 24 - 7 Service National NHS Menu Leading Chef Recipies

What we do With a team of approximately 80 staff members comprising chefs, catering assistants, storemen and administration staff, the Catering department provides the service of food and beverages to patients, staff and visitors across the hospital. The patients receive individual menus on a daily basis from a two week menu cycle, and are able to choose from a selection of three hot choices at lunchtime (served with a selection of vegetables and potatoes), salad or sandwiches, and from four dessert choices. Supper consists of two hot menu items (served with potatoes and vegetables) or sandwiches and five dessert choices. Breakfast offers a range of fruit juices, grapefruit or prunes, five different cereals including porridge, and a roll with butter or spread and preserves. Snacks are also provided for patients twice a day and all meals are accompanied by a beverage. The main staff facility is Time Out Restaurant situated on the first floor. Opened by the Duchess of Kent in 1992 and refurbished again in 2000, this facility boasts a modern, attractive, spacious area for staff to take their breaks away from the workplace. The restaurant is open from 8.00am to 8.00pm everyday, serving cooked breakfasts, lunches between 12pm and 2.00pm with daily specials and hot suppers between 6.00pm and 8.00pm. Sandwiches, cakes, snacks and hot & cold beverages are available all day. The Courtyard Restaurant created primarily for visitors to the hospital is situated near the main entrance on the ground floor. Refurbished in December 2002, with an additional conservatory added in 2005, this will now provide seating for 100 people at one time. The Courtyard Restaurant serves hot and cold drinks, sandwiches, confectionary and snacks all day, and hot breakfasts and lunches until 2.30pm. The Courtyard Restaurant is open from 8.45am to 8.30pm Monday to Friday and 11.00am to 5.00pm at the weekends. There are a variety of vending machines on site providing hot beverages, bottled and canned cold drinks, confectionary, sandwiches and microwavable meals such as curry, lasagne and jacket potatoes.

Mission Statement

'To be the best In House hospital caterer committed to providing consistent, high quality, cost effective service which puts the customer first.'

Aims

1. To develop a cashless method of payment in Time Out.

2. To progress with the Better Hospital Foods initiative.

Catering Services Structure

Better Hospital Foods

In July 2000 the government launched the National Health Service Plan. This is a long-term plan to radically overhaul the way the Trust delivers its services and improve the environment for the benefit of the patients.

The NHS plan includes a section aimed at improving hospital food. The NHS is the largest catering organisation in Europe serving 300 millions meals per year at a cost in excess of £500 million per year.

Extensive research recognised that the food served throughout NHS Hospitals was variable in quality.  NHS Estates Better Hospital Food Programme was formulated to standardise the service.

The Meal Service

The requirements introduced on 1^st January 2002 ensure that the normal mealtime service meets or exceeds the following:

·         Breakfast - a choice of fruit juice, high and low fibre cereals, hot oat cereal, white or brown rolls, toast, low fat spread, butter and preserves.

·         Morning - fruit squash, water, tea, coffee, biscuits, cakes and additional sweet and savoury items.

·         Lunch - fruit juice, soup, light hot dish (meat/fish/vegetarian), sandwiches (meat/fish), bread/roll and spread, fresh fruit and cold dessert.

·         Afternoon - beverages and snacks, as morning.

·         Supper - three main dishes including a vegetarian option, salad, a choice of vegetables, alternative carbohydrates (rice/pasta), bread/roll and spread, hot dessert.

·         Evening - beverages, as mid morning and afternoon.

·         Snacks are to be provided at least twice per day and the main meal changed to the evening to reflect modern eating habits.

 The 24 - 7 service

All hospitals are required to ensure that patients have access to food at all times and are required to provide the following services:

·         A ward kitchen service-that provides hot and cold beverages, toast, preserve and spread.

·         Snack Box Service-providing a range of products including sandwiches, fresh fruit, yoghurts, crisps, confectionery and fruit juice.

From 2004 all hospitals will be required to provide a hot alternative to the snack box which can be reheated and served at ward level.

 The National NHS Menu Format

At present each hospital is able to develop their own menu format within the above guidelines. There are as many different menus as there are hospitals. The new NHS menu format that we will be introducing within the Trust will help alleviate the problem by standardising the format of the menu.

This will ensure that whenever a patient is admitted to hospital the new menu format will be familiar and easy to understand. It will clearly show the range and types of meals during the menu cycle. The menus will remain with the patients throughout their stay as a source of information for the service provided by the Catering Department.

See the Trust's new NHS Menu (pdf document)

 Leading Chef Recipes

Loyd Grossman was asked by the Secretary of State for Health to lead a team of chefs from the private sector to design a variety of dishes that would compliment existing NHS menus. This was introduced in May 2001 just before the election.  The range now includes an expanding selection of popular dishes that are more suited to our clientele. We aim to have 3 leading chefs recipes available on our menu daily.

The Better Hospital Food Panel will act in an advisory capacity to Ministers on the standards that are set for the NHS in the coming years, to ensure progress is continued with re-branding NHS catering.

The Better Hospital Food Programme needs to ensure that funding is available to secure real improvements in the quality and availability of food in hospitals. We should also ensure that every penny spent ends up inside the patients and not in the bin!

Documents:

In House Catering Function Booking Form

The New NHS Menu

Career opportunities in catering...

Find out why you should come and join us in this leaflet.

Did you know?

The NHS currently spends around £500m each year on food, and the scale of its catering services is enormous. Over 300 million meals are served each year, in more than 300 NHS Trusts across approximately 1,200 hospitals.

You can download the NHS Recipe Book from the Better Hospital Food website