the jokes about hospital food: RBH’s fare is pretty fair, to be fair

THE Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust has the prescription for great food, writes James Hastings.

In a UK wide survey of hospitals, the trust came top of the pots for patient and staff catering.

A panel of judges scored the RBS an almost perfect 99% score making it the top Acute Trust for food and nutrition.

The trust's 70-strong Catering Team were recognised for the choice of food on offer, round the clock availability, meal times, and the quality of food provided to patients on wards during their hospital stays.

Eamonn Sullivan, Chief Nursing Officer at the RBH, said, “The whole Trust is incredibly proud of our Catering Team.

“We know that good food and nutrition is essential to help patients recover while they are staying with us.

“As well as supporting our immune systems, and healing, food also plays an important role in the mental health aspect of being in hospital too as it brings with it routine and social interactions.”

Staff cook a million meals a year, including 50,000 roast dinners and 30,000 portions of fish and chips.

They make a million hot drinks using 130,000 litres of milk.

And they get through 26,000 loaves of bread rustling up toast and sandwiches.

They are the biggest catering establishment in Berkshire, and it also means the team cleans and polishes 20,000 pieces of crockery and cutlery each day – more than seven million in a single year.

Janet Lippett, acting chief executive, added: “I want to say a big thank you to each member of staff in the Catering Team.

“The fact that patients and staff have had such a good experience with the food provided at the Trust is a great testament to them.

“And it’s even more satisfying as the team cook all of the food from scratch in-house.

“I know how hard they work every day and I couldn’t be more pleased for them.”