In this section
The patient meals we serve are provided by Sodexo, our catering service provider. They are designed to offer a well-balanced and nutritious diet.
Meal times
Meals are prepared and served on the wards by Patient Service Assistants (PSAs) at the following times:
- Breakfast – 8.00am to 8.45am
- Lunch – 12.00am to 1.00pm
- Tea – 5.00pm to 6.00pm
If you require any assistance with your meal, please do not hesitate to ask a member of staff. If you are away from the ward having a procedure or test and you miss a meal the ward staff will order you a snack box.
Protected meal times
Mealtimes on our wards are protected which means that all non-urgent clinical activity, including visiting, stops for a period of time. This allows our patients to eat their meals without any interruptions in a more relaxed and calm environment. The only people on the ward will be the nurses and PSAs involved with serving meals allowing our staff to monitor and give assistance to patients who need it
Bringing food into hospital
We advise against bringing food into hospital as it is difficult to ensure safety of products not provided by our caterers. Certain foods present a higher risk of food contamination than others. For safety reasons, the following items are not allowed:
- Raw meat
- Products that require reheating
- Products past their “best by” or “use by” date
- Food not labelled with the patient’s name and dated the day it was brought in
- Food requiring refrigeration that has been left out of the refrigerator for longer than 4 hours
- Raw or boiled eggs, or egg products unless shop bought and in original sealed packaging
- Unpasteurised dairy products
- Products containing nuts or nut derivatives
Any food items brought in should be consumed on the same day. A member of the nursing team will ensure the food items are stored and labelled correctly. Items may be disposed of at the discretion of the nursing staff if they are unhappy with the packaging or quality of the food item. We can only store perishable items for 24hours. The hospital does not accept responsibility for any illness or injury caused by any food brought into hospital for consumption by patients. For more information please refer to ‘ A guide to your hospital stay’ booklet on each ward.