Barriers To Patients' Food Choices
July 20th 2007
Nurses often cannot give hospital patients the food they would most like because of lack of facilities, it was reported today. 
An opinion poll carried out on 1,077 people for Nursing Standard found that the foods people would most like to eat when they are ill are toast, soup and fresh fruit. However, the availability of these foods is limited.
"This is all about patient choice and, at the moment, we are not able to offer patient choice across the NHS," said Debbie Dzik-Jurasz of the Royal College of Nursing’s "Nutrition Now" campaign.
"It is usually possible to order fresh fruit and snacks with meals, but not outside mealtimes. We would like to make it possible to get snacks such as a toasted sandwich outside of the standard three mealtime slots."
Toasters are banned in some wards, says the Nursing Standard.
Andrea Cartwright of the National Nurses Nutrition Group explains: "Some trusts will not allow toasters to be used because, if they set off the fire alarms and the fire brigade is called, they can get fined.
"Some wards have old-style kitchens, while others have microwaves and no gas burners. In others, toast has to be ordered from the main kitchen. To provide food around the clock, a number have vending machines.
"Nurses need to work with their catering departments to find out what will work best for patients."
England’s Health Care Standards Unit makes it clear that hospitals must prepare food safely, provide patients with a choice, a balanced diet, access to food 24 hours a day, and any necessary help with ordering or eating food.
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