HCA Reaction To The Channel 4 “Dispatches” Programme on Hospital Food

As expected, the Channel 4 “Dispatches” programme transmitted on Thursday evening 13 May 2004 looked at the subject of hospital catering and raised issues about the variable quality of hospital food. The programme featured secret filming at the factory of a major supplier of pre-prepared meals to the hospital catering sector. The secret filming by an undercover reporter revealed serious breaches of hygiene standards in the company’s food packaging plant.

The Hospital Caterers Association (HCA) would like to make the following points:

  1. HCA Members found the images in the programme of staff flouting the company’s internal hygiene regulations extremely disturbing. The HCA considers this to be a totally unnacceptable standard from a high profile hospital catering supplier. The Association also believes that on the basis of the findings of this programme, individual NHS Trusts should be strongly urged to look at their food purchasing sources to satisfy themselves that they are happy with the service.
    However, one point should be stressed from a patient safety point of view in relation to products from this particular supplier. Whilst it may have been unpalatable to watch, the programme stressed the point on two occasions that regeneration of the company's dishes at extremely high temperatures in hospital kitchens would have rendered them safe for consumption. All dishes are temperature tested before being sent to the wards.

  2. Where hospital caterers employ cook-chill methods of food production (i.e. buying in from outside sources), they have to be reliant upon the integrity of food suppliers. They have to have total confidence that prepared meals supplied to hospitals under national contracts are from safe supply sources.

  3. Hospital catering contracts are only awarded on the basis that suppliers can demonstrate they meet strict purchasing specifications and quality criteria. Caterers must be able to trust that suppliers are preparing foods in totally hygienic conditions. This reassurance is given through the checks carried out by the approved qualified food safety officers who regularly conduct thorough audits and environmental health inspections of suppliers’ premises to monitor operating practices in order to safeguard public health. Where suppliers fail to comply with national standards, tough measures must be taken to ensure that patient health is regarded as the first priority and customers (i.e. the caterers) are notified immediately. Where it is deemed necessary, supply should be suspended.

  4. Hospital caterers maintain the highest standards of professional practice in food safety and hygiene. In 1996, the Hospital Caterers Association published a Hygiene Good Practice Guide which was endorsed by the NHS Executive as the definitive Audit Tool for all NHS caterers. This document details the minimum standards acceptable for all processes and procedures entailed in the provision of catering services within NHS catering and was intended to operate in support of and measure compliance with the NHS Executive’s Hospital Catering - Delivering a Quality Service.

  5. However, it should also be borne in mind that the programme also featured many excellent examples of hospital catering such as at the Royal Brompton Hospital and at Solihull Hospital
    the latter of which also supplies its food products to other NHS Trusts.
    Hospital.caterers are totally committed to providing their patients with foods that are not only nutritionally beneficial but entirely safe for consumption. It should be borne in mind that all recipes featured on the NHS Dish Selector have all been thoroughly nutritionally analysed by hospital dietitians to ensure they provide maximum nutritional value for patients.

  6. As could also be seen from the excellent quality of food being prepared in a number of NHS hospital kitchens featured in the programme around the country, the Better Hospital Food Programme has had an impact in raising standards of hospital food. This can be determined from the Government’s PEAT (Patient Environmental Action Teams) annual inspections which have shown a considerable improvement in NHS food service between 2002 and 2003. In 2003, the number of green rated hospitals (denotes high standards which almost always meet patient expectations) increased from 17% in 2002 to 44% and the 14 hospitals (2%) that were rated red (poor) in 2002 either moved to amber or green in 2003. 56% of hospitals were rated amber in 2003 (acceptable standards).

  7. However, as Loyd Grossman OBE, Chairman of the Better Hospital Food Panel and Honorary Patron of the HCA stated at the Association’s recent Annual Conference 2004 there ?There is no doubt that patients are seeing wider choice, better quality and a more responsive service. However, our ambition so far has been to bring everyone up to the standards of the current best. We have still to make the quantum leap required which will permanently embed hospital catering and nutrition into clinical pathways and pitch our levels of innovation on a par with the best in the world?.

He also said that “they were talking with manufacturers about the variability between the top 20 selling dishes and that there was a need to achieve consistency with a single specification for standard dishes such as shepherd’s pie. He added that lessons need to be learnt from commercial concerns such as Marks & Spencer and that closer day to day working relations with suppliers were essential. He told delegates that discussions were underway with a number of global catering providers to see what can be learnt from them in terms of sourcing, off-site production and logistics”.