Are these the most horrific hospital dinners ever? Patients reveal dire state of meals on wards… despite NHS vow to improve food standards
A single bite sized omelette, macaroni swimming in fluorescent yellow cheese sauce and congealed porridge.
For decades, patients have moaned about dreary meals served up in NHS hospitals, with complaints about cold dinners, ‘tiny portions’ and overcooked slop.
Others have previously told of even being served mouldy jacket potatoes, burnt chilli con carne and boiled potatoes served with chips and cheese.
In 2022, NHS England launched its new national standards for hospital food, which are legally binding.
Among the eight standards, include a requirement for trusts to offer hot food 24/7 and letting patients choose their dinner from bed.
More vegetable and fish dishes must also be made available.
Last year, Professor Tim Spector, one of the UK’s top diet experts, also joined healthcare chiefs and at least 1,000 other health experts in calling on the NHS to make vegan meals standard in UK hospitals.
Yet, new photos shared on social media within the last month show how some trusts are still serving up questionable plates in wards up and down the country.
One patient was allegedly served a ‘chicken lasagne’ — chicken pieces swimming in a watery beige sauce — at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
Another posted an image from Northern General Hospital in Sheffield of three undercooked sausages, boiled potatoes and thick gravy which was marketed as ‘sausage in onion gravy and sauté potatoes
In Dumfries Hospital, a third patient showcased their 16 pieces of macaroni pasta drowning in bright yellow cheese sauce
Facebook group ‘Rate My Hospital Plate’, which boasts more than 138,000 members, sees users post their breakfast, lunch and dinner offerings, inviting people to share their thoughts.
Pictures published just this week showed one patient allegedly served a ‘chicken lasagne’ — chicken pieces swimming in a watery beige sauce — at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
Another posted an image from Northern General Hospital in Sheffield of three undercooked sausages, boiled potatoes and thick gravy which was marketed as ‘sausage in onion gravy and sauté potatoes.
In Dumfries Hospital, a third patient showcased their 16 pieces of macaroni pasta drowning in bright yellow cheese sauce.
Here MailOnline reveals the worst offenders from across the UK.
Another patient posted a photo of the chicken with dumplings they were given at King’s Mill Hospital in Sutton-in-Ashfield
One patient at Harrogate Hospital shared a photo of the congealed porridge they were served for breakfast
A different patient shared this photo of lasagne served with mash, they were given at another NHS hospital, saying they ‘really have no words’
Another took a photo of the jacket potato they were given at the Hull Royal Infirmary Woman and Children’s Hospital
One patient at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield shared this image of the questionable ‘lasagne’ they were served and said was ‘not good’
The 2022 national standards were implemented in the wake of the cook and Great British Bake Off judge, Dame Prue Leith’s blueprint for better hospital food, released in October 2020.
This called on the NHS to make healthier and better quality meals and let patients order food around the clock straight to their bed.
She also said all hospitals should have digital meal ordering by 2022, serve meals on china and ‘go green’ to slash the 14million kg of wasted meals thrown out by the NHS every year.
The review was commissioned by ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson in August 2019 after six patients died from listeria which they contracted from hospital sandwiches and salads.
The NHS serves 140million meals to patients every year, and has a further 1.2million members of staff who require food and drink on shift.
However, four in ten hospital staff have previously said that catering facilities in their workplaces are poor.
One patient told the Facebook group they were served breaded fish with just five chips at St James’ University Hospital in Leeds
Another patient at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham shared this photo with the Facebook group, captioning it ‘yuk’
A photo of a plain small omelette one patient in Doncaster Hospital was served earlier this week
A chicken pie served with vegetables at St James’s Hospital in Leeds, shared by another Facebook user
Last year, more than 1,000 health and food experts also called on the NHS to make vegan food standard in hospitals.
In an open letter to every NHS trust and healthcare leader in the UK, they ask healthcare organisations to implement ‘plant-based by default’ menus.
It follows a trial in New York in 2022, which they say led to a 36 per cent drop in food carbon emissions, cost savings and a more than 90 per cent satisfaction rate among patients.
The letter, also signed by television nature expert Chris Packham and writer George Monbiot, argued that offering patients mostly plant-based meals would save £74million per year while providing healthier food and helping cut food-related greenhouse gas emissions by up to half.
