£8.46 catering bill satisfies hospital

THE Royal Oldham Hospital is spending less than £8.50 a day on breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Figures released by the NHS Information Centre show the Pennine Acute Trust spent £8.46 to feed and water each patient per day.

The trust, which runs hospitals in Oldham, Bury, Rochdale and North Manchester, dished up over 1,700,000 meals between 2010-2011.

Figures also show it had a 5 per cent food-wastage rate.

Pam Stansfield, head of catering, said the cost of meals varied at hospitals within the trust, but issues such as spend-per-meal and patient satisfaction were monitored on a weekly basis.

She said: “Our catering-service managers monitor food expenditure and food wastage and, importantly, patient satisfaction on a weekly basis.

“Plans are drawn up and reviewed to address any areas of concern and we are constantly working to improve the food services for our patients wherever possible.

“We have an extensive menu which caters to meet the needs of all patient groups, and have significant patient representation when we are developing new menus.”

Across Greater Manchester, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust spent the most at £12.76 a day but had 10 per cent wastage.

The Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, which runs mental health services, spent £9.32 and had almost 7 per cent wastage.

Other neighbouring trusts spent less — Tameside Hospital £7.37 a day, the Royal Bolton Hospital £5.66, and Salford Royal £5.09.

Across the country, Wiltshire Primary Care Trust spent the most at £22.31 — and University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust spent £17.46.

However, Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust spent just £2.57 — or 86 pence a meal — to feed and water each patient.

The Department of Health said the amount of money hospitals spend on food had gone up over the past five years, with the average at £6.53 per patient per day in 2005/06, compared with £8.58 in 2010/11.

Waste was also going down, from an average of 8.9 per cent in 2005/06 to 5.9 per cent in 2010/11.

Health Minister Simon Burns said: “The amount of money hospitals are spending on food has gone up over the past five years, and waste is going down, but this rise in the amount spent on food does not necessarily mean better food for patients.

“Many trusts have excellent food and are serving healthy, fresh meals to their patients while staying within budget.

“These trusts set a precedent for others to follow and the whole NHS should be learning from the best.”