Tuesday 5 June 2012

The battle continues

Meal from my last visit. Can you guess what it is?
Well that was a slightly longer break than I had intended! For those of you still subscribed to my blog I’d like to welcome me back. I know that sounds a bit strange but I really do have a few good excuses for not having written. The main excuse was another stay in hospital to have a large lump of ironmongery removed from my leg now that my femur has knitted itself back together. Unfortunately this was followed by another bone infection and a six-week course of antibiotics. Touch wood, I’m back on the mend and feeling quite a bit better.

While I’ve been away I’ve noticed that absolutely nothing has changed concerning the dire quality of hospital food. In fact, the awful stuff I was fed during my last hospital stay was every bit as bad as the last... and possibly worse. Long-time visitors to the blog will recall that I made a documentary for Channel 4’s Dispatches a year or so ago and as a result the petition I set up calling on the Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley, to do something hasn’t even received an acknowledgement. Despite 4,000 people taking the trouble to sign the petition, the man in charge of the NHS hasn’t even so much as raised an eyebrow.

So what are we to do? Is there any point fighting on trying to get hospital food improved? Well, I think there is. I may be out of hospital and hopefully I won’t taste that awful food again for some time, but plenty of sick and frail people are still relying on meals that cost less than £1 to produce. For many it’s their only source of nutrition and their recovery is being impeded. I need to think of some new ways of tackling this subject and would really appreciate any suggestions that you might have.

So if anyone’s still reading, please fire up my indignation and help me with some ideas of how I can bring the truly shocking aspect of the NHS to the attention of the wider public.

10 comments:

  1. Anaemic sweetcorn and scale bugs in tomato sauce. Yum.

    I wonder what the Duke of Edinburgh had for dinner last night? Bet it wasn't anything like this.

    James Martin did a programme last year about a going into a Yorkshire hospital and trying to improve the food. I wonder if you could liaise with him to tell him that it might have worked for that hospital, but obviously not for others?

    As for Andrew Lansley - the man needs removing from office forthwith. Much as I appreciate your campaign for better food within the NHS, Lansley's plan to reorganize the NHS will see medical care going the same way as the food - ie Contracted out to private companies, the quality will go downhill as corners are cut to save money.

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  2. Welcome back! Dang something just happen over there (Britain) to do with food and health care and I can't remember what it was other than I figured we'd hear from you.

    Do keep it up...I wonder if there are any researchers working on correlating food & mortality in hospitals vs. home care. Maybe you could find someone that is willing & can get funding for such a study (government funding would be ironic).

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  3. Welcome back. I thought of you and this blog recently. I've been in and out of hospital myself all year and the food isn't much better here in Oz.

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  4. Good to have you here, Fenstar. I hope you're feeling better. Unless you've been in hospital it's almost impossible to understand how poor food can really make a drama out of a crisis. It seems incredible that there's so much fuss about school food when kids only have one of their meals in school, and yet no one seems to care about hospital food where the patient is sick and relying on the hospital for all their nourishment.

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  5. Welcome back, please keep blogging. Have just spoken about you over at my blog. I think with whats happening to Martha at NeverSeconds at the moment (school dinners) you might get another opportunity to show people what's going on...

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  6. Welcome back!!

    I am in and out of hospital myself (and started reading your blog during an admission in 2009).

    I think that Lansley et al should be served with NHS takeaway...

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  7. Welcome to you too. I hope you're healing and feeling better. As for Lansley... NHS management never let him near the real NHS. He thinks all hospitals smell of fresh paint!

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  8. that looks like pasta bolognaise with corn

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