DoH: Good food is a priority

Good food for hospital patients is a "priority issue", the Department of Health (DoH) has claimed.

The quality of food has come under fire after a survey by the consumer group Which? found that one in three people who have recently been in hospital were unhappy with the food they were given.

A quarter thought the food was so bad that they brought their own food in or asked their friends and family to.

Which? is calling for improvements to be made to food quality, saying that little has changed in the past few years.

But the DoH says hospital food has "improved greatly" and claimed recent surveys show the majority of hospitals have high food standards.

"Good food is important for all patients and the DoH has recognised this as a priority issue," a spokesperson said.

"We expect every trust to take their responsibilities on hospital food seriously and to make sure that hospitals meet the standards that patients rightly expect. The Healthcare Commission also surveys in-patients on the quality of their meals as part of the hospital assessment process.

"The government has already produced nutritional standards for the NHS and is looking at how these standards can be more fully implemented or complemented."

The spokesperson added that schemes are in place to ensure people do not become malnourished in hospital through a lack of assistance with eating and drinking.