My name is Tim Radcliffe.
I've worked in the NHS for seven years, prior to that I worked in the private sector mainly in hotels and restaurants.
Currently I am Facilities Manager at East Lancashire Hospitals, which consists of 5 hospitals in the Northwest of England, Royal Blackburn Hospital, Burnley General Hospital, Accrington Victoria Hospital, Pendle Community Hospital and Clitheroe Community Hospital.
In total we have over 1200 beds with over 10,000 staff, Located in Lancashire in the heart of the Northwest with Bolton & Manchester to the south, Preston to the west, the Pennines to the east and Cumbria to the north.
Our population is approx. 650,000 this includes patients who live in some of the most socially deprived areas of England.
In 2015, I was offered the opportunity to unlock the potential of an under-performing catering service based at Blackburn hospital.
It had many challenges
We Only had 9 chefs. With a varied skill set producing 15,000 meals a week leading inevitably to only 49% of food freshly cooked on site.
There were no recipes, so every chef was producing their version of the dish leading to incredible differences and waste.
I was surprised, how so much of our produce was just bought from catalogues without any understanding of exactly how it got there and how little produce was sourced from local and even British suppliers.
Before entering the world of NHS catering all my experience has been in the private sector including managing hotels and restaurants.
To me when buying your produce, you should be looking for the best quality at a reasonable price, making certain you know as much as you can about that produce, engaging with local suppliers understanding how they have grown the potatoes or how the cattle has been bred and reared this enables you to have far more understanding of the quality of food you're putting on the plate for your patient. The relationship built between supplier and customer is so important.
We needed to reinvigorate the creative juices of our chefs enabling them to utilise their skills we recruited 3 more chefs working closely with local colleges and our education team to get 2 apprentice chefs. Using the princes trust and step into health programmes we supplemented our workforce whilst also supporting our local community this gave us a more cohesive and engaged workforce investing in staff is just as important as investing in equipment.
With this as our guiding principle we put Cook-fresh at the core of our changes.
Taking the whole trust on a journey.
We had 3 key elements
1. Procurement
Making Cost not the starting point
I met with all suppliers to emphasise the need for quality.
I said to all I don’t want your best price; it has to be a relationship …. the supplier has to make money the service that they provide is vital.
We wanted to ensure that our suppliers understood our project and that all our produce had to meet our exacting standards. We made a conscious decision for local and seasonal produce.
2. Menu Design…with recipes!!
We worked directly with dieticians in designing our food offer ensuring that it met all the required guidelines but was also appetising and appealing. We made the patients menu available in the staff and visitors restaurant.
All staff were involved in this putting forward dishes and making suggestions.
We produced a recipe book and gave every chef copies so they could refer to it at all times.
Our menu is creative and descriptive: encouraging people to choose options with attractively named dishes Patients expectation have changed, It does matter where food comes from.
Our use of Local Venison is an example of putting sustainability at the heart of our offer. Sustainability is key for us, if you can buy high quality ingredients within 20 miles of your hospital why would you want to consider imported produce.
We entered a collaboration with Forestry England to source our venison from the Forest of Bowland, previously it came from the borders of Scotland. Using a more local product and highlighting it on our menus has seen an increase in patient uptake of 15% from 33-48%.
It Is very popular in the staff restaurant and is one of the top selling meal deals.
3. Raise awareness
Share your recipes and your message - hospital food can be delicious, healthy, affordable, and produced with care for the environment and the people who produce it.
We Offered tasting sessions taking the food to the wards and allowing the ward staff to try the new dishes Communicating the rationale for menu changes.
Afterall it those staff who interact with the patient they need to have confidence in the offer.
We held cookery demonstrations, for hospital staff.
With this as a benchmark we moved in 2 years to 91% freshly prepared on site Putting British produce at the heart of our offer Local farmers and supplier are at the heart of the catering industry. They provide high quality and environmentally sustainable and fresh produce. Helping to maintain local employment and supporting the economy also links into wider trust values, as these are key indicators linked to public health. Buying locally gives us control over the quality of food we serve to patients and our suppliers take great pride in the quality of produce we receive.
What advice can I give ?
- When beginning to Engage and challenge senior stakeholders take into account Which battles are winnable.
- Provide evidence-based arguments.
- Stay true to your principles- sometimes it is a bumpy road.
- Be consistent.
- Maximise natural opportunities for open, positive and daily interaction- be accessible -patient food in the restaurant.
- Staff food surveys – monthly dine with the Chief exec.
- Embed the service and yourself into the Trust.
- Become the ‘go-to’ subject expert.
YES it takes time. YES it takes perseverance, AND YES it takes courage.
But the rewards are enormous.
Chefs always enjoy working with fresh seasonal locally sourced ingredients. Patients and staff appreciate this as much as the suppliers. We have much more confidence producing food when we can visit the supplier in person and observe all stages of their preparation and production.
Our philosophy has been rewarded with several awards including NHS Chef 2021.
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