Assembly Committee gives lukewarm reaction to improvements to hospital catering

7 February 2012

Hospital catering services across Wales are inconsistent and the pace of improvement is still too slow, according to a new report 'Hospital catering and patient nutrition' (PDF 538 KB) from the National Assembly for Wales’s Public Accounts Committee.

In some cases, the Committee heard of relatives and carers not being allowed to assist vulnerable or infirm patients at meal times as a result of a “protected mealtimes policy”, originally designed to ensure patients have adequate time to eat without interruption.

The Committee was told that nutrition was a crucial element in patient care and, when properly applied, the policy had led to improvements in patient recovery.

But members were told its application was inconsistent in hospitals across Wales and communication of the policy to frontline staff was taking too long.

“Our report highlights disturbing evidence of a policy designed to improve patient care actually having the opposite effect because of poor communication and interpretation,” said Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Darren Millar AM.

“Where the policy is being correctly implemented, the Committee was pleased to see positive results and we urge the Welsh Government to issue further guidance to ensure consistently high standards of service across all Welsh hospitals.

“We also recommend that every patient is advised of what standards of catering service they should expect at the point of admission and that food hygiene ratings should be prominently displayed in all hospitals.”

The Committee makes seven recommendations in its report:

-      That the Welsh Government should issue supplementary guidance to all NHS bodies in Wales clearly stating that the protected meal times policy should not be used to exclude relatives and carers from providing assistance with eating to patients, and that where relatives and carers wish to assist at mealtimes, they are actively encouraged to do so by ward staff;

-      That the Welsh Government should ensure that local health boards provide the Wales Audit Office guidance note ‘Eating Well in Hospital - What You Should Expect’ to every hospital patient in Wales at the point of admission;

-      That the Welsh Government takes action to ensure that the progress of NHS organisations in delivering their own action plans is rigorously monitored and made publicly available;

-      That the Welsh Government monitors the progress of NHS bodies in delivering its guidance, including sourcing local food which contributes to a health-balanced diet for patients, where possible;

-      That the Welsh Government provides details of how and when waste reduction targets are to be met;

-      That the Welsh Government takes action to ensure food hygiene ratings are displayed publicly in all hospitals in Wales;

-      The Committee also requested that the Accounting Officer provided them with a plan of how and when the Welsh Government and Local Health Boards will have made the improvements recommended by the Auditor General.

Report 'Hospital catering and patient nutrition'  (PDF 538 KB)