Interview with Phil Shelley, Chair of the Hospital Food Review
Alexia Robinson • November 19, 2020
Why does it matter that hospitals buy British food?
Hospital menus should reflect the region they are in by using British food. Health care catering requires safety and quality to produce great food that empowers the recovery of our patients.
Why is NOW the time for making British first supplier of choice?
More than ever we are in a time of uncertainty; the dual challenge of Covid-19 and Brexit should drive our focus to purchasing British and supporting our local industries and farming communities.
Which foods are easiest to buy locally for most hospitals?
In most regions, meat, fruit and vegetables can be sourced locally fairly easily with fish also being a sustainable options in most regions too. It is all about having menus that are able to be flexed. The key is having ADAPTABILITY in menus: by this I mean hospitals having Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter menus and changing the ingredients accordingly.
What is the greatest challenge in achieving this?
Interestingly, it is key that our dieticians have the availability to support a regular change in menus as the coding takes time. Catering managers, want our menus to be the very best they can be, whether it is for our patients, staff or visitors. The only way to achieve this is buy buying British, fresh and seasonal. We need flexibility on our menus, quick turn-around from our dieticians and strong relationship with our suppliers.
With potential new trade deals and imports of cheaper food from overseas, will there be the temptation to put price before value? And what incentives are needed to put values first?
The Hospital Food Review stands by the approach of the Balanced Score Card that promotes quality over cost – it is not a race to the bottom but a chance for all to be exemplary. One of the recommendations is to legislate the food standards for healthcare which we know the Secretary of State for Health & Social Care supports.
This is a tremendous opportunity for hospital food standards to be written into law, for the first time which would be a turning point in our standard setting.
Name three hospitals that are shining examples of sourcing local produce.
It is so difficult to pick out 3 when there are so many for us as an industry to be proud of. But if I have to name 3 individuals, I would like to highlight these:
Chris Neale at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
Tim Radcliffe at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust
Howard Cartledge at Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
[Note from Ed. Phil is very modest not to mention the hospital where he works and where the menus are absolutely fantastic…Taunton Musgrove Park Hospital]
Dare I ask you of some examples of hospitals buying overseas when there is a good local supplier on the doorstep?
I feel very strongly that now is not the time to criticise but to encourage. I challenge EVERY hospital to find a way to integrate British products into their menus. Of course, having the distribution systems in place is going to be key.
If you could ask Matt Hancock for ONE thing to make it easier for catering managers to buy locally, what is it?
The recommendations that we have made in the Hospital Food Review will open up our markets for food choice across the board. What we need the Secretary of State to do is to support a visionary approach of widening our opportunities for providing safe, auditable British products on our patient, staff and visitor menus.
As a footnote…it is important that the driver for change is our passion for putting safe, quality food on our patients’ menus, buying British is a fantastic way to achieve success. The message to Catering Managers is “This is our time” – food is at the Heart of our Nation and our principles for excellence are ingrained in using British food.
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