Food guru Tim Spector and health experts call on NHS to make vegan food the norm in hospitals

Food guru Tim Spector has joined healthcare chiefs and at least 1,000 health experts in calling on the NHS to make vegan food standard in UK 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.

In 2018, Labour promised new laws to tackle bad hospital food. The Campaign for Better Hospital Food said at least half of hospitals did not comply with requirements that patients should expect fresh and nutritious meals.

The letter, also signed by television nature expert Chris Packham, writer George Monbiot and Ecotricity founder Dale Vince, argues that offering patients mostly plant-based meals would save £74m a year while providing healthier food and helping cut food-related greenhouse gas emissions by up to half.

It will be sent to the chief executive, lead dietitian, sustainability director and medical director of every NHS trust and integrated care board in the country.

Meat, eggs and dairy would not be totally excluded.

The letter, coordinated by the Plants First Healthcare group, says: “‘Plant-based by default’ menus offer and incentivise plant-based meals as the primary menu option without restricting choice – meat and other animal products remain on the menu.”

Plants First Healthcare is a coalition of NHS professionals who say they are “increasingly concerned about the impacts of the food system on climate change and biodiversity loss”.

A new Food Systems Policy Report by the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change calls for the normalisation of plant-based meals in healthcare settings.

Organisers say 6 per cent of the NHS carbon footprint is from food but there is “overwhelming” evidence that shifting to a plant-predominant food system would significantly improve health, address health inequalities and help meet climate and nature targets.

The letter says: “The Office of Health Economics recently estimated that if just England were to adopt a completely plant-based diet there would be ‘a total net benefit to the NHS of around £18.8bn per year’. No other intervention can deliver such significant health benefits alongside cost savings and environmental benefits.”

Shireen Kassam, campaign co-lead and consultant haematologist at King’s College London, says: “When staff and patients are made aware of the health and climate benefits of plant-based meals, they support incorporating more lower carbon, health-promoting foods.

“According to the 2023 Lancet Countdown report, 70,000 deaths in the UK in 2020 were associated with insufficient intake of nutritious plant-based foods such as fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds.”

Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals Trust, Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust, Hampshire Hospitals and Great Ormond Street Hospital have all signed the Cool Food Pledge promising to cut food emissions by 25 per cent by 2030.