The steps announced today are: enhanced catering and nutrition criteria introduced in the year, supported by increased inspections of hospital foods
An appointment to find out whether nutrient criteria in hospitals ought to be put on a statutory foundation.
An additional #300,000 will be spent to assist boards to enhance nutrient care Scotland was the first country in the UK to introduce federal standards for fluid, food and nourishment in hospitals.
Since 2008 over 1.75 million has been spent to enhance standards of healthcare, such as encouraging dietary champions, malnutrition screening of patients when they’re admitted to hospital, and also the debut of protected mealtimes to make sure patients get the aid they should consume.
Ongoing improvements to hospital food are a part of the Scottish Government’s 2025 vision to make Scotland a more”great food country”.
Mr Neil said:”Scotland has led the way in the UK as it comes to monitoring and developing criteria for nutritional maintenance and catering in hospitals.
“We have strict criteria set up, and very clear advice about how these criteria can be fulfilled.
“Catering teams, dieticians, expert advisers and nursing staff do excellent work to make sure patients are becoming balanced and nutritious diets at hospital.
“We’ve made amazing progress, but I recognise that there’s always more that can be done in order to drive standards up.
“We’ve been working on those new guidelines for a while as part of a continuing review of nutritional supplements.
“This is part of a package of steps which will help to make sure that hospital food continues to improve, that NHS boards have the right quantity of advice and support which they should provide these developments and we have a much more rigorous review procedure.”
