Hospital patients have complained that they have been served meals “not fit for dogs” and porridge that looks like sew age in a series of grievances lodged this year.
thers said relatives were left without any food, or in some cases water, while on trolleys for hours in emergency departments.
The complaints were made by angry patients and relatives to the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) and released to the Irish Independent under Freedom of Information.
They left me without dinner twice and one evening
They reveal that despite efforts to improve standards there is still much work to be done to shake off the unappetising reputation of hospital food.
One former patient told the watchdog: ”They left me without dinner twice and one evening I was given food not fit for a dog.”
Another said when she went upstairs to a ward – from the emergency department where she got good food – the meals she was served were “horrendous”.
The patient said: ”How can a cup of tea be so hard to get wrong?... there was sewerage-looking porridge, cold food, re-heated creamed potatoes… is there a special school of catering to make ward food as unappetising as possible?”
Others described how on visiting relatives they found untouched food had turned hard on a plate.
Another patient was transferred to hospital with the instruction he be on a strict calorie-controlled diet. He ended up gaining two stone in weight during his hospital stay with a nurse commenting he “has a great appetite on discharge”.
The man’s relative said he later had to return to the emergency department and staff were informed of his strict food plan. But he ended up being given a breakfast with his entire calorie limit for the day.
The pressures are highest in busy acute hospitals
Another person said their mother appeared to have not been given anything to eat in the emergency department and they knew this because her clothes that would normally be soiled during a meal were spotless. Another said her late father returned home with serious weight loss after being given a food and liquid thickener which left him feeling full on top of his already poor appetite.
The pressures are highest in busy acute hospitals and several hospitals are still having to use systems where the food is cooked, chilled and re-heated before being served to patients.
There are also problems with having to transfer plates of food from the kitchen in a hot box which can take nearly an hour to reach some patients.
The HSE has previously found that hospital patients were not eating up to half the meals prepared for them, leading to around 5,600 tonnes of food being thrown out every year.
This can be due to several reasons including illness and poor appetite, too large portions and also the quality of the meal served.
A spokesman for the HSE said that “each hospital manages its own budget for catering”.
He said: ”All patients are provided with meals as appropriate and in line with any relevant clinical guidance and in the context of dietary requirements and need.
“In relation to patients in emergency departments, each department undertakes a risk assessment on the provision of hot meals throughout the day.”
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December 27, 2022 at 09:30AM
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Patients left angered by hospital meals 'not fit for a dog' in series of grievances - Independent.ie
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