The Soil Association launched on 18 June a new package of support for hospitals to improve the food experience for patients, staff, visitors and the wider community. The Food for Life Hospital Leaders Circle brings patients and hospital staff together to transform their food and use good food to support rehabilitation and improve health and wellbeing.
Successful pilot
The project follows a successful pilot in three hospitals which saw initiatives like patients eating meals together round a table at ward level, new herb, fruit and vegetable growing spaces planned at Calderdale Royal Hospital, and a daily fruit and veg stall now trading at Warwick Hospital. Through the Hospital Leaders Circle, hospitals are supported to make food a board level priority, projects delivering cooking and growing skills can be brought in for the benefit of patients, staff and the wider community, and hospitals can be supported to develop new approaches to vending that offers staff access to healthy fresh food 24 hours a day.
Launched at the Food for Life Better Care conference
The new initiative was launched at the Food for Life Better Care conference which heard from expert speakers looking at joining up the focus on food in care homes, hospitals and the community to improve wellbeing, quality of care, prevention, rehabilitation and new approaches to tackling malnutrition and loneliness in the community.
Speaking at the launch, Dr Susannah McWilliam from the Soil Association said, “Good food is a central part of supporting health and our pilot projects showed that when good food is made available, people will choose it. Hospitals serve 300 million meals to patients each year, spending £500 million on food annually. With diet-related ill-health costing the NHS £5.8 billion a year and the cost to the wider economy expected to rise to £50 billion a year by 2050, hospitals urgently need to tackle both malnutrition in patients and the promotion of healthy food to staff and visitors.”
Meeting key new policy requirements
The Food for Life Hospital Leaders Circle supports hospitals to meet key new policy requirements like the development of a food and drink strategy and meet objectives in the NHS Five Year Forward View surrounding food. Food also has a key role to play in delivering against the Better Care Fund objectives in relation to supporting older people to be well nourished and in tackling isolation. Soil Association Food for Life is encouraging commissioners to use this funding to promote a greater focus on food and nutrition in care homes and the community.
Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust piloted the Hospitals Leaders Circle. Lesley Hill, Director of Planning, Performance, Estates and Facilities said, “Working with Food for Life Hospital Leaders team highlighted the importance of food beyond our NHS Trust. The ‘Care to cook?’’ training programme for domiciliary care workers, developed as part of our package will provide support for those most in need in the community: the vulnerable elderly. Providing nutritious food for the elderly in their homes not only supports health and wellbeing, but should reduce hospital admissions over time.”
To find out more about the Food for Life Hospital Leaders programme click here