Elyse Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 Some British hospitals are spending as little as £2.57 daily on food and drink for each patient, working out at 86 pence a meal, new figures show. Statistics compiled by the NHS Information Centre reveal large budget disparities, with some trusts spending more than £20 a day on each patient, while others commit barely a tenth of that. Among those spending the least were Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust (£2.57), Harrow Primary Care Trust (PCT £2.75), North Somerset PCT (£2.76), North West London Hospital NHS Trust (£3.13) and Herefordshire PCT (£3.66). The figures from around 350 primary care trusts, foundation hospitals and other NHS bodies showed that more than 30 hospital trusts spend less than £5 a day on breakfast, lunch and dinner for each patient in their care. Wiltshire PCT spent the most (£22.31), followed by Kirklees PCT (£19.81), University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust (£17.46) and Cumbria Teaching PCT (£17.85). Katherine Murphy of campaign group the Patients Association told the Daily Telegraph that patients needed nutritious food. "It's vitally important that people in hospital get a balanced diet -- otherwise they will have only to stay in hospital longer," she said. The Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust told the Telegraph its spending figure was so low because of data collection disparities. Paul Hatcher, its director of estates said: “Unlike other trusts, the figure represents only the cost of ingredients, and not the total spent on sourcing, preparing, cooking and serving food and drink. If those costs are included, our figure would be around £8 per patient, per day.†Health Minister Simon Burns insisted that the amount of money which hospitals spend on food has gone up in the last five years. He added that others should be learning lessons from the best-performing NHS trusts. Yahoo! News http://ca.news.yahoo.com/hospitals-spend-86-pence-meal-005124720.html;_ylt=ApgrBbdYN4oqf0KZRsoSHNd_ssB_;_ylu=X3oDMTRidGJianFyBGNjb2RlA3ZzaGFyZWFnMgRtaXQDVG9wU3RvcnkgSGVhbHRoU0YEcGtnAzQ3YTRhNGQ2LTVhOGMtM2I4Ny1hNTM4LWZhYzVkMTg4OTFlOQRwb3MDNgRzZWMDdG9wX3N0b3J5BHZlcgNhYTE0Zjk1MC0zYzVhLTExZTEtYmNmZi1kZThmNjJlMWY5MWU-;_ylg=X3oDMTFxbzVnbmg3BGludGwDY2EEbGFuZwNlbi1jYQRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANoZWFsdGgEcHQDc2VjdGlvbnMEdGVzdAM-;_ylv=3 Wait, so...a 'pence' is like 'cents'? Like not a whole british pound? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tallulah Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 yeah thats right!! pence is smaller than a pound! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onlythisgirl Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 That doesn't really surprise me! It tastes like it cost 86p too. Yuck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sian_lea Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 I cant say im shocked really considering the quality, but looking into it the amount ofpeoples eating places like pizza express its £6;45 for a childs meal it costs less than half of that to produce! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mydiamond Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 2 pounds and a half for breakfast, lunch and dinner?! *faints* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BingBlaze n Skyla Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 im not suprised at all - thats why we used to take mcdonalds n stuff into mum when she was in hosp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazz Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 What the information does not tell you, however, is if cost figures include both the food and the prep labor to make the food presentable. I would almost bet that the cost figures reflect just the cost paid for the food.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naomiJayne Posted January 14, 2012 Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 Where I work people pay £600-£1000 a week for all care inlcuding food/drink and most of the food they give them is absoultly awful. Never mind in hospital where it's the NHS paying for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormy Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 The food looks quite nice in this hospital they have their own menus different things each day it probably isnt nice as i havnt actually eaten it but it doesnt look bad and smells nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lebe03 Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 They spend less on food for hospital patients than they spend on food for prisoners (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1368481/Nutrition-NHS-patients-fed-1-meals-hospitals-budget-just-HALF-spent-prisoner-food.html) This should be the other way around with prisoners having far less spent on their food than patients Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunc Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Sooner the NHS is gone the better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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