Visitors sample hospital food at Northampton General

18th August 2010, 9:54am

The Northampton General Hospital invited visitors and staff to sample items from its patient menu yesterday to give their verdict on hospital food.

At the last session in July, Gary Wrighting from Silverstone, a patient on Becket Ward, was particularly enthusiastic about the chicken madras.

He said: "This is absolutely marvellous. I've tried many things on the menu, and steak and kidney pie has been my favourite so far. But if this curry is served on the ward while I'm here, I'll definitely have some more of that."

Catering manager Ricardo Hoyte said: "These sessions are a great opportunity for visitors and staff to taste the quality, and learn about the size of the daily operation. Many people are amazed to discover that we prepare 9000 meals a week, and often surprised that we have just four chefs to do that.

"We are proud of providing an in-house service, and we do not use outside caterers. We have a seven-day, Wednesday to Tuesday, three-week rotating cycle of lunch and supper menus. There is a wide selection of carefully chosen dishes, with all menus being continually updated in collaboration with the dietetic department, and reflecting patients' opinions."

NGH patient food recently received a score of 'excellent' for the second year running in the 2010 PEAT results published by the National Patient Safety Agency. The hospital was also rated 'good' for cleanliness, infection control and patient environment, and 'good' again for privacy and dignity.

Supply Directs client Graeme Miller of Linc Cymru is a 2010 Cost Sector Catering Winner!

http://www.costsectorcatering.co.uk/online_article/A-closer-look-at-the-2010-winners/10628

Graeme Millar, Facilities Manager, Linc Cymrulinc Cymru
Winner of the Social Care Award
(Sponsored by apetito)The facilities management department at Linc Cymru was created in April 2009 with the first nursing home opened in June while five extracare schemes were brought in house with a TUPE transfer two months later. Linc-Cymru specialising in affordable housing, social care and health sectors in Wales, has operated as an independent, not-for-profit sector for 30 years. Graeme Millar and his facility team of 70 serve more than 300 meals a day to six separate sites. Opening menus for the Capel Grange Nursing Home in Pill, Newport were written by the newly appointed facilities manager for the residents and agreed with Supply Direct and supporting specifications produced. New menus were also created for the extracare schemes with chefs learning new dishes and being trained in the internet based ordering system. The new menus put greater emphasis on local produce and traditional food preparation as well as cooking techniques. Meet the Residents sessions are now regularly held in all the schemes , identifying both the popular and less popular dishes. When a consistent theme emerges, immediate menu changes are made, an example being the use of haddock or cod instead of pollock. Favoured dishes have been added such as Sue Lewis's traditional faggots and peas, named after a resident at the Wellwood extracare home.