NHS hospitals serving up the worst food are named and shamed in new league table – so how does YOURS fare?
- Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust ranked lowest with a 71.67% rating
- MailOnline app users can view the full league table by clicking here
- *** DO YOU HAVE ANY BAD EXAMPLES OF HOSPITAL FOOD YOU WANT TO SHARE? EMAIL [email protected] ***
The dire state of hospital food has been laid bare in a fascinating new league table which ranks every trust.
England’s worst-offending sites — located across Yorkshire and Cheshire — had an approval rate barely above 70 per cent.
The score comes from a survey of patients and staff, who were asked to rank the offerings using a range of different factors.
This included the choice of food available, whether 24-hour availability was possible, meal times and access to menus.
MailOnline has collated all the data into an easy-to-read table below, allowing you to see how your hospital fared.
The rankings marks the first time the data has been released by NHS Digital in three years owing to the pandemic. Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust scored lowest with an approval rating of just 71.67 per cent. In second from bottom, the Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust scored 73.53 per cent. York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust also reported a rating of 73.85 per cent
Worst hospital food providers ranked
1. Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust: 71.67 per cent
2. The Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust: 73.53 per cent
3. York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust: 73.85 per cent
4. West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust: 74.56 per cent
5. Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: 77.49 per cent
6. Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust: 79.87 per cent
7. Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust: 80.45 per cent
8. East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust: 80.84 per cent
9. Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust: 81 per cent
10. Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: 97.42 per cent
Best hospital food providers ranked
1. Bupa Group: 100 per cent
2. The Christie NHS Foundation Trust: 99.03 per cent
3. Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust: 98.62 per cent
4. Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust: 98.32 per cent
5. North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust: 98.25 per cent
6. Torbay and South Devon Health Care NHS Foundation Trust: 98.08 per cent
7. Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: 98.08 per cent
8. John Taylor Hospice Community Interest Company: 98.03 per cent
9. Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust: 97.87 per cent
10. University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust: 97.80 per cent
It marks the first time the data has been released by NHS Digital in three years owing to the pandemic.
One private provider — Bupa, which has over 45 health centres — scooped a sparkling 100 per cent score.
Harrogate and District Foundation Trust (FT) scored lowest, with an approval rating of just 71.67 per cent.
Mid Cheshire Hospitals FT (73.53) and York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals FT (73.85) rounded out the bottom three.
A spokesperson for Mid Cheshire Hospitals Foundation Trust told the Health Service Journal: ‘We are both sorry and disappointed that we did not meet our patients’ expectations at the time of the assessment.’
The trust said it had taken ‘immediate action’ to address shortcomings with food provision, including working more closely with its dieticians.
It is also exploring new menu options, it said.
Behind Bupa in the Patient-Led Assessments of the Care Environment (PLACE) came specialist cancer site The Christie FT (99.03 per cent).
It was followed by the Royal Berkshire FT (98.62) and Liverpool Women’s FT (98.32).
Rankings were assessed from 1,580 reviews, covering 864 sites where meals are provided.
The national average was 90.2 per cent.
To rate food provision, assessors were asked questions relating to the choice of food offered, the 24-hour availability, meal times and access to menus.
An assessment of the food at ward level was also undertaken, including the taste, texture and appropriateness of serving temperature.
As well as rating each provider’s food offerings, it also rates cleanliness and how they support patients’ privacy and dignity.
Other factors include their suitability for patients with specific needs.
Among recent tales of poor hospital food offerings includes one patient who complained that they received a patty with sauce on top when they ordered a vegetable burger
Another patient in Abergavenny, east Wales, complained about their potato and mushy peas, which they said was cold
Last year Daniel McGuire, 32, revealed he spent one month in Royal Preston Hospital, in Lancashire, after suffering pneumonia and sepsis. He said his dinners included ‘three fish fingers’ when the hospital ‘ran out of food’
A pregnant mother complained that the pork and apple casserole she was given wasn’t enough to feed a small child
This served at one NHS hospital risotto is barely enough to feed an adult who is trying to recover from illness
People have also shared images on social media of the food they’ve received at NHS hospitals. One patient received a cottage pie (above)
In November, NHS England formally launched its new national standards for hospital food, which are legally binding. Among the eight standards include a requirement for trusts to offer hot food 24/7 and letting patients choose their dinner from bed. More vegetable and fish dishes must also be made available
While the PLACE programme was first introduced in 2013, it took a three year hiatus owing to the pandemic and re-launched in 2022.
A total of 5,877 ‘patient assessors’ took part in the most recent survey.
Of these, over half (50.8 per cent) were patients, while almost a quarter (21.7 per cent) were patient advocates.
Some 8.9 per cent were people from organisations in the NHS, with the final 18.7 per cent made up of others including members of the public.
For decades, patients have moaned about dreary meals served up in hospitals, with complaints about cold dinners, ‘tiny portions’ and burnt food.
Others have told of just getting three fish fingers and vegetable patties with a dollop of sauce on top.
In November, NHS England launched its new national standards for hospital food, which are legally binding.
Among the eight standards, include a requirement for trusts to offer hot food 24/7 and letting patients choose their dinner from bed.
More vegetable and fish dishes must also be made available.
It came in the wake of the cook and Great British Bake Off judge, Dame Prue Leith’s blueprint for better hospital food, released in October 2020.
This called on the NHS to make healthier and better quality meals and let patients order food around the clock straight to their bed.
She also said all hospitals should have digital meal ordering by 2022, serve meals on china and ‘go green’ to slash the 14million kg of wasted meals thrown out by the NHS every year.
The review was commissioned by ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson in August 2019 after six patients died from listeria which they contracted from hospital sandwiches and salads.
The NHS serves 140million meals to patients every year, and has a further 1.2million members of staff who require food and drink on shift.
However, four in ten hospital staff have previously said that catering facilities in their workplaces are poor.
It was revealed in 2019 that around a fifth of hot meals served at NHS hospitals were made at one factory in Wiltshire, owned by private firm Apetito, which were then being shipped as far as 650 miles away.
The cleanest hospitals ranked
As well as rating each hospital provider’s food offerings, the PLACE programme also ranked each on their cleanliness rating.
This considered the condition of objects and fittings including patient equipment, furniture, toilets and showers.
The national average for cleanliness was 98 per cent, with 12 NHS Trusts and private providers scoring a top mark of 100 per cent.
Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust reported the worst cleanliness score at just 70 per cent.
Among the lowest included North Tees and Hartlepool Foundation Trust which recorded 89.23 per cent.
But the trust said this was due to a reporting error, according to the Health Service Journal.
Its true score, which it claimed it has been advised to resubmit, was 99 per cent.
Best hospital providers for cleanliness
Worst hospital providers for cleanliness
1. Yeovil District Hospital Foundation Trust: 100 per cent
1. Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust: 70 per cent
2. Torbay and South Devon Foundation Trust: 100 per cent
2. North Tees and Hartlepool Foundation Trust: 89.23 per cent
3. St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals Trust: 100 per cent
3. Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children Foundation Trust: 91.91 per cent
4. Liverpool Women’s Foundation Trust: 100 per cent
4. St Andrew’s Healthcare: 91.92 per cent
5. Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Foundation Trust: 100 per cent
5. King’s College Hospital Foundation Trust: 92.03 per cent
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