Friday 6 May 2005

quit stealing my thoughts


Worried doctors plan to ask Jamie Oliver to do a school dinners-style overhaul of hospital food. Junior doctor Eleanor Draeger, 30, wants the telly chef to expose the "woefully inadequate" state of NHS grub for patients AND staff.

She said yesterday: "Good nutrition is really important to healing. Our hospitals all have kitchens but the food is brought in plastic cartons and cooked to within an inch of its life." [source]


I wrote about hideous NHS food in February and requested the services of Jamie Oliver to sort it out. I'd get excited, but I found this in the BBC news archives:
Naked Chef Jamie Oliver is wanted by the government to improve the standard of hospital food. The Department of Health is looking to recruit top chefs to an NHS taskforce as part of its plan to have tastier menus for hospital patients by 2001. [source]


By 2001? I don't recall enjoying any trendy, pukka meals while I was in hospital. Unless Oliver has introduced recipes like overboiled pasta and tuna, stale bread with a slice of cheese, and instant mash into his repertoire, I think the Department of Health is a bit behind. However the same article states that "The government has set aside £10m to deliver its planned improvements to NHS food over the next 10 years", so perhaps there's hope for this yet. Still, I don't think we need top chefs to come up with decent food for our hospitals. Hell, give me £10m and I'll create dozens of menus for the NHS. I'll even cut them a deal and do it for the low, low price of £9m. I can work on this while I'm on maternity leave. I eagerly await my invitation and big fat cheque in the post.

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