General Chat

Just remembered another time I was in hospital, about 20 years ago - with alleged appendicitis (I told them it wasn't, but was ignored - turns out it was diverticular disease).
Anyway, they kept me in, and wouldn't let me out as I live alone, then they lost my records.
Daughter came the next day, about lunchtime. I was trying to cut some 'meat', which was so hard, it 'pinged' across the ward :-S
Fortunately, after a fit of uncontrollable laughter, my daughter (who works for the NHS) found my records, asked for my release to be signed , and I was allowed home.
When I was in a Sanitorium aged about 5, I presume I didn't like the food, as they decided to feed me intravenously (or 'force feed', to be honest)
It was some fishy sort of gloop that was put through the funnel into the pipe.
They got it down, walked out of my room, and, as they closed the door, I immediately threw up all over my very confining 'cot'.
They weren't too happy with me.

But, my point is, I'm not a fussy eater (unless it's out of principle - McDonalds, farmed salmon etc),. My mum was pickling, (and I was happily eating) octopus at the age of 2. I was also picking prickly pears and eating them as a 'snack' at the age of 3 - I've also happily ingested tripe, and any other type of offal that could be offered (including sheep eyes).
I don't call myself a 'cook'. but I can cook an edible (to me, and a few others) meal out of almost anything, so the hospital food I was offered (even 50+years ago) must have been pretty gross.

The ward staff in our Trust aren’t supposed to eat unserved food. The reasoning is that either they’ve deliberately ordered too many meals, so that they get a ‘’free’ one, or they’ve given the patients too small a portion. This particular example is from a mental health ward rather than a medical one.

Thanks for the replies.

I did see nursing auxilliaries being offered spare meals from the trolley after hearing that the patient didn't want their meal.. So no hygiene concerns there.

I was always under the impression that nursing staff were not to eat the food prepared for patients in case there was an outbreak of gastroenteritis attributable to the hospital food.

The kitchen staff (in my usual hospital) would always offer an alternative to the pre-ordered meal if patients were not up to eating it. Ham and chips was the most popular alternative choice or soup for those not ravenous lol

In Berlin between the wars, one report on the subject of food shortages, claimed that what was known as 'war bread' consisted of 'part sawdust & part mud, eaten with a smear of turnip jelly'.

Maybe our UK hospital food isn't so bad after all!

Joy Louise I wish you hadn't typed scone lol now all i can think is how nice a cheese scone would be right now :-D

I'll scone that, Dermot.

The NHS

Let us contemplate all the many good things we take for granted & for which we often show little appreciation.

David, I was not a nurse but I have to ask whether the nursing staff really wanted to eat it? The food must have been put on the sick one's table where it would have stood for a while. Also, some of the meals were possibly geared to a person's dietary requirements so may not have been palatable to others.

I noticed during my lengthy stay in Newcastle's RVI (ward 23)

that a lot of food was wasted because patients didn't want it

and the nursing staff weren't allowed to eat it. What a waste. :-(

Years ago my BIL went for a routine blood pressure test and the doctor packed him straight off to hospital, no explanations. He arrived too late for the evening meal and didn't get any food, maybe a cup of something. In the middle of the night he got up, probably a bit dis-orientated, and promptly passed out. My sister got a phone call at about 3am to say his condition had 'deteriorated'. At this point we didn't even know what was wrong with him, other than that the poor bloke was probably starving! Great lesson in how to make a worrying situation worse :-(

Fortunately I have not had the experience of hospital food. Except when I was kept overnight after an op that was supposed to be day surgery, was late and they thought I should stay overnight. Gloucester, about 10 years ago. Having not had any food all day (because the op was late, general op), when I cam round and was back in bed I was hungry, It took the nurse quite a while to source a cheese sandwich for me. I had to actually ask for something for breakfast as I was not to be released until the surgeon had seen me. I eventually got a cup of tea and a slice of toast.

JoyLouise I am glad that you queried that about pensions as I thought they still kept part if you were in a while. thanks Gwyn for sorting that out.

I can see where Von is coming from re a two tiered service. I can't see how the kitchens could operate with some patients paying and some not.

Von phew ?? I lived in West Wales for 25 years and a Pembs hospital was where the butcher mutilated my hip :-|

No Sue it was sunny Pembrokeshire. Even the chef didn't seem to understand :-0

Eating food should be regarded as a pleasurable necessity.

The staff at the hospital five minutes away from us can be both good and bad when it comes to dietary requirements. At breakfast times, the ward staff use the ward's kitchen to make toast for their ward patients.

One family member who has Coeliac Disease fared well in the first ward he was in as all of the staff were au fait with dietary requirements. Just before his release he was moved to a Day Ward and the next morning one member of staff brought toast around for everyone. Luckily he had the presence of mind to ask whether it was gluten-free. He explained why. The response was that surely it won't hurt this once? She tried to persuade him for a few minutes. He tried to tell her it was not a fad or a way to keep weight down and that if he ate it he would be quite violently sick and more!

Some staff are wonderful but others 'let the side down' completely.

Living in another country for so many years, I really don't know about food in UK hospitals, other than what I read online.

However .......... Von's experience re no knowledge of dairy-free meals is not restricted to Welsh hospitals!!!

I was last in hospital here in 2011, for a planned 1 night after an operation. The nurses asked me in late afternoon about food for breakfast ........ I said it had to be dairy-free.

So what did I get??

Buttered toast and tea with milk in it.

The nurses on duty were horrified, and tried to get me something else from the kitchen, but resorted to raiding their own ward supply to give me 1 slice of dry toast.

Fortunately I was released, as planned, in the late morning, and OH gave me food when we got home!

We do seem to still have kitchens in our hospitals where meals are produced on-site, rather than the off-site suppliers that I've read about in English newspapers.


On the funny side, some of you may know that we love to take the Canadian trains, especially The Canada from Vancouver to Toronto, a 4 day trip. The meals are usually superb, equal to a 4 star restaurant. However, the menu for dinner on our 3rd day from Toronto last January had only 1 option that I could eat .............. Salisbury Steak.

The one and only time that I had ever had Salisbury Steak was back in 1977 when I had to go into hospital for an operation, and it was the first meal that I was served.

It was awful!!!

It basically was ground beef (mince) mixed with some tomato, cooked in the oven and covered with gravy, and served with a slice of bread.

You can imagine what I thought looking at it on the menu in January 2019 :-P

The server persuaded me to try it ..........................

it was delicious!!

Night and day from that hospital food!

I think, perhaps, that the fact I could 'argue my case' was a factor in my being allowed home (alone)!
So maybe I shouldn't totally 'diss' McDonalds in this case!
But the sandwich was foul.

:-D :-D at Maggie

Last time I was in hospital and 'knocked out' - about 15 years ago, I had a knee operation.
When I came round I had to do the 'usual' and eat before I was released.
They offered me a McDonald's sandwich :-|
I don't go to McDonalds out of principal. I certainly didn't want their sandwich - but, after 'negotiating' with the sympathetic nurse, I had to eat at least half of it, as I didn't want to 'bed block' either! :-S

Grief Von shocked at your comment re the dairy free requirement. I have always been asked about dietary requirements when admitted. Then the dietician visits to explain what the codes are on menus to help patients choose the appropriate meals.

I’m in Wales and have been fortunate not to have experienced that level of lack of knowledge.

I hope the hospital wasn’t in the. Valleys :-0