Better Food For Patients

Out of Print... Contents: REPORT AUDITS COURSE Booklets for Staff: NEW MENUS COOKING WARD SERVICE Forward of Report: Setting standards, measuring performance and programming remedial action are prime functions of management. They are not, however, ones which are generally applied to feeding patients in hospitals. This account of a study undertaken into means of providing hospital management with such information will, it is hoped, be welcome at the present time when the health service is being reorganised to provide an improved service to the public. A high quality catering service is an integral part of hospital care and one readily understood by patients. It is also a service which is very challenging to control. Hospitals are planned primarily for medical and nursing needs and these do not always coincide with catering requirements. Further, patients' dietary preferences vary considerably and illness creates additional complications. That such problems are overcome, however, is essential for the patients' well-being, and for the efficient use of resources. This report has been prepared by caterers closely involved in hospital problems, who care sufficiently about the quality of the seivice to undertake a critical assessment of its shortcomings. It is hoped that the proposals will be widely read by management and will give a clearer understanding of the steps to be taken to provide better load for patients.