Following the publication of a report on standards for food and drink in NHS hospitals in August 2014, the Department of Health has published a toolkit designed to support the development of a hospital food and drink strategy.
The toolkit, which has been created in conjunction with the Hospital Food Standards Panel, is designed to support NHS hospitals in the development of a food and drink strategy, which is one of the requirements identified in the NHS Standard Contract.
Any food and drink strategy should address the nutrition and hydration needs of patients, healthier eating for the whole hospital community – especially staff - and sustainable procurement of food and catering services.
The toolkit is divided into three broad sections: Nutritional Care, Healthier Eating Across Hospitals, and Sustainable Food and Catering Services. Each section includes links for more information, including to the relevant required food standards, together with details of reference texts and data sources.
Also included is a suggested list of professions that ought to be involved in the development of the strategy, a gap analysis, and a list of prompt questions.
