Hospital Food

Debate between Tessa Munt and Joan Walley

Tuesday 14th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Joan Walley]

I am most grateful Madam Deputy Speaker.

The first tranche of what will be 100 dignity and nutrition reports into individual hospitals found that in four of the 10 hospitals investigated, the nutritional needs of patients were not being met. The reports also stated that the quality of hospital food remains a long-standing concern. This highlights both the extent of the problem and the importance of the Care Quality Commission’s role in monitoring and reporting on hospital performance in relation to nutrition. I believe that its resources should be increased so that it can carry out more such checks and fulfil the delivery board’s recommendation of strengthening inspection and regulation. I also believe that the CQC should be made fully accountable for how that work is done.

I want to discuss regulation because that is ultimately the best means of improving hospital food. It is remarkable that there are still absolutely no legal standards governing the quality of the 330 million meals served in the NHS each year. In its report, “Yet more hospital food failure”, published earlier this year, Sustain’s “Good Food for Our Money” campaign surveyed dozens of Government-backed initiatives to improve the quality of hospital food. Alas, it found that those initiatives have cost at least £54 million of taxpayers money and have achieved improvements in only very few isolated cases. The reason is simple: they have all been voluntary, so except in those few isolated cases they have been largely ignored. Let us contrast that with the successful attempts to improve the food served in schools, where meals have to meet legal nutritional standards. A survey by Consensus Action on Salt and Health—CASH—in October 2010 showed that most meals served to children in hospital could not legally be served in a school because they contained too high a level of salt and saturated fat. The reason for the success in schools is simple: minimum nutritional standards in schools are legally binding, but in hospitals they are purely voluntary.

To date, successive Governments have failed to send a clear message to hospital caterers that the quality of their food is critical to patient health and the sustainability of our food system. It is not asking for the impossible. For many years, the Royal Brompton hospital in Chelsea has practised a progressive approach to its food procurement, providing nutritious and appetising meals prepared from fresh ingredients, which enables patients to recover faster.

Unfortunately, the Government’s ideological commitment not to introduce more regulation, regardless of its merit, is a serious block to improving hospital food. I return to Government buying standards. The coalition Government have at least recognised that voluntary initiatives have limited effect; they do not work across the board and over time. As a result, they will introduce Government buying standards that set compulsory minimum standards for food served in central Government institutions. I hope it will be soon, as the standards were promised for March 2011, and we have waited for more than a year. They were promised by the Conservative party pre-election; they were welcomed by the coalition Government and were the subject of a great deal of Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs civil servant attention throughout 2010. The work also involved the Department of Health to integrate badly needed health standards for food served in central Government institutions. The integration of health and sustainability standards for food bought with public money was an innovative and much needed approach, and should act as an inspiration for the wider catering sector to follow suit. Tackling health, ethical and environmental issues together should save the country money and be of great benefit to food producers and the environment.

The real issue for me is that even when the Cabinet Office home affairs committee signs off the Government buying standards, they will not apply to hospitals and hospital food. That is the heart of the concern. On the day the Government are revising the Health and Social Care Bill and recommitting it to further scrutiny, should the Health Minister not be exploring with colleagues at DEFRA and in the Cabinet how the long-promised Government buying standards can be extended to hospital food? If that is ruled out, surely there should be urgent discussions with the NHS Future Forum, the National Audit Office and expert groups, such as Age Concern and Sustain, which have a track record on this matter, with a view to tabling amendments to the Bill so that we have minimum standards for nutrition in hospital food.

[Tessa Munt (Wells) (LD)]

There is another part to the equation. I have worked in further education colleges and it would seem logical that when we train chefs they should take a module on the specifics of nutrition for people in hospital. That is a different element. Does the hon. Lady think we could focus on that to improve standards?

[Joan Walley]

I am glad to take that intervention. It is an extremely important point. Basic minimum standards should be applied to schools and in future to hospitals, but that will not happen by accident. It will happen only if we put in place all the necessary education, training and skills. Whoever is responsible for providing the food needs to be trained. I agree that that is a third dimension to the issue.

I apologise to the House for having lost my voice because of my cold. In conclusion, surely there is no other institution where it is more vital to serve healthy, wholesome food than in our hospitals. That is important in so many ways—for the recovery of patients, staff morale, and the atmosphere that fills the wards. When hospitals serve good nutritious food, everyone benefits. I therefore call on the Government to introduce minimum nutritional, environmental and ethical standards for hospital food that will radically improve the quality of food served, reduce costs to the NHS and improve the health of the nation.