Every year around 3.6 million meals are served to patients across all our hospitals.
To ensure we are meeting the needs of the large number of patients we cater for we have launched new café-style menus. The new menus offer a range of meals that will ‘cater’ for patients with differing dietary requirements.
The menus will be prominently displayed in all our hospitals in areas including bedside lockers and dining rooms and will let patients see the breakfast, lunch, evening meal and snack options in advance of ordering.
The menu choices will alternate weekly, allowing patients to see the range of options available at each mealtime with healthier, vegetarian and higher calorie meals clearly highlighted.
The new menus were initially piloted at the Vale of Leven Hospital and with the feedback being extremely positive have now rolled them out out across all our hospital sites.
Anne MacLeod, Deputy Site Facilities Manager, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, said: “The new menu cards which are available at bedsides have proved very popular with patients at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
“We have received positive feedback from patients who can read these at any time and helps them plan what meals they would like to order.
“This also is available for relatives’ information and they have found these to be very informative also and some have commented they can assist their relatives in making their selection.”
Adam Wright, Acting Professional Lead Patient Catering Services, Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, said: “The introduction of the bedside menus here at the QEUH has been well received.
“Many of the patients comment on how the menu card informs them of the variety of the meals available, and how it assists them in planning their meals. But patients still look forward to that person centred touch when the catering assistant enters the room to ask ‘what would you like for lunch / dinner ‘.
“Here at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital we have a variety of wards and day areas. These dining areas are for our more mobile patients where the menu card has become part of the table setting. Again the patient response has been positive and well received informing the patient of choice and a point of conversation over lunch or evening meal.”