Post by Daz Madrigal on Oct 16, 2006 12:47:51 GMT
Wow really!!
LONDON (Reuters) - Food served at many hospitals is still "cold, unappetising and inedible", with a third of patients leaving their meals unfinished, a survey of over 2,200 patients showed on Monday.
The study by patient forums found that around 40 percent of patients had visitors bring in extra food with a quarter not getting the help they needed to eat their meals.
The Food Watch survey was conducted by Patient and Public Involvement Forums at 97 hospitals across England.
Its findings were disappointing, said Sharon Grant, chair of the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health, which coordinated the study.
"Proper nutrition is essential to recovery both physically and psychologically," she said.
"Patients have every right to expect food that is nutritious, served at the appropriate temperature, meets their dietary needs and help to eat if they need it."
The government launched a Better Hospital Food Programme in 2001 but the study questioned how much it had achieved.
"These results show that this programme may not have improved anything at all despite almost 40 million pounds of government investment," it said.
A woman in her sixties at a mental health unit in Staffordshire told the survey she was nearly blind and could not see the food menu, but did not receive any help in choosing her meals.
LONDON (Reuters) - Food served at many hospitals is still "cold, unappetising and inedible", with a third of patients leaving their meals unfinished, a survey of over 2,200 patients showed on Monday.
The study by patient forums found that around 40 percent of patients had visitors bring in extra food with a quarter not getting the help they needed to eat their meals.
The Food Watch survey was conducted by Patient and Public Involvement Forums at 97 hospitals across England.
Its findings were disappointing, said Sharon Grant, chair of the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health, which coordinated the study.
"Proper nutrition is essential to recovery both physically and psychologically," she said.
"Patients have every right to expect food that is nutritious, served at the appropriate temperature, meets their dietary needs and help to eat if they need it."
The government launched a Better Hospital Food Programme in 2001 but the study questioned how much it had achieved.
"These results show that this programme may not have improved anything at all despite almost 40 million pounds of government investment," it said.
A woman in her sixties at a mental health unit in Staffordshire told the survey she was nearly blind and could not see the food menu, but did not receive any help in choosing her meals.
