Hospital food

[Shetland-Mal]

Having just spent five days in hospital I have to say the diabetic choices at meal times are sadly lacking especially in the pudding dept (jelly and ice cream or cheese & biscuits).

 

[cezzle]

We had an awful time in hospital with food. The snacks on the ward were all aimed at getting sick kids to eat and were cakes fruit and crisps. Rom was starving as a newly diagnosed T1 - the consulant had said she could eat whatever she wanted to whilst she was in hospital as she was on an insulin drip, then we had a nurse come and rip a piece of cake out of her hand and tell her off for eating it! Really poor care

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

[picklebean]

In general I have found that care of diabetics when in hospital is fairly bad if not down-right dangerous! They don't seem to know how to handle either type of diabetes properly. Of course I know some places are probably very good, I just haven't experienced that myself.

The food situation is a joke really. So many hospitals need to get this sorted out - it's such a basic thing but it makes SUCH a huge difference. There are some moves to improve the situation at the moment but I don't hold out a lot of hope.


A few years back I spent some time on a heart ward - every afternoon they came round with tea and offered cake and biscuits to everyone.... and every morning toast was served with lashings of butter.... on a heart ward full of people with high cholesterol and weight problems! Madness!

 

[WilliamIrvine]

I have just spent 4 weeks in hospital for a non diabetic issue and have to say that after the first 1.5 weeks I gave in and complained. The portion sizes were absolutely terrible...in fact at times I considered them smaller than a kids portion and when you have a healthy (ish) appetite like I do this was not on.

As for what you can eat - being DAFNE trained this wasn't a problem - the only issue was that trying to work out the CP's of the slops that they provided wasn't easy.

Anyway following a nice long chat with the catering manager - I got my issues sorted... well 95% of them and the meals greatly improved and became recognizable. I did discuss the diabetic options both for non and pro DAFNE and he took loads of notes and said that this will be reviewed this year.

Hopefully things will improve

Wullie

 

[picklebean]

Well done William!! Things will only change for the better if the people responsible know there's a problem and what that problem is.... So we need to tell them. There is a movement to improve food in hospitals which I'm glad about. It's about time too! It seems to me that it is such a basic but essential thing to get right.

And yes, I have always found portion sizes and working out carbs an absolute nightmare when in hospital.

 

[de130770]

you will allways find that it is do as your told and not as we do.
you will find that the nursers know better than the dieaticion(not)
david and gd lassie

 

[amazinmo]

my T1 daughter-in-law ordered weetabix for breakfast and was told sorry we dont have any would SUGARPUFFS do instead!!!!

 

[martwolves]

I spent 6 weeks in hospital last year after having 2 metres of bowel removed, due to a blood clot which cut of the supply to my pancreas. The medical care and choice of food was excellent. This was New Cross Hospital Wolverhampton.

 

[martwolves]

my T1 daughter-in-law ordered weetabix for breakfast and was told sorry we dont have any would SUGARPUFFS do instead!!!!

She could have eat them if she regulates her insulin accordingly. It's hardly the end of the world.

 

[Geocacher]

The food was the only good thing about my last stay in hospital. Not that it was ideal for a diabetic, but it was hot and reasonably edible, and I could make my own sensible choices from the menu and decide for myself how much to eat.

After my last GTT I was given a completely inappropriate meal -- sweet coronation chicken on white bread, large banana, sweetened orange juice, biscuits, and jelly. And I was not allowed to leave until I'd eaten most of it. It got my sugar levels back up quickly... too quickly. They could have offered better given that most people having a GTT have some problem with glucose metabolism.

Having said that, I remember when my Dad was in hospital in the thirty years ago, sacharrine was the only artificial sweetener available. Hospital meals on the exchange diet were dire -- plain boiled potatoes, dry roasted meat, boiled unseasoned veg, a small salad without dressing, half a slice of bread, and orange sacharrine sweetened jelly with cabbage in it. Sugar, fat, and portions were limited but carbohydrates were not. Nasty. At least those days are gone.

 

[pav]

Not in my local hospital, most looks like slops that you feed to the pigs, with some unrecognizable, tasteless. Assumes every one like mayo with virtually every thing. Some items are marked as diabetic friendly but would be stuck to make a full meal with diabetic food.

 

[raymond123]

i had 4 weeks in peterborough city hospital. i an not given to praising hospitals but both the food and treatment were excellent.

 

[cally]

Hi
I am a nurse and also a type 1 diabetic.
I would agree that most hospital food is dire, but there are ways round this.
It's quite possible to take in your own breakfast cereal ,bread rolls, fruit and whatever else you feel you need to have with you. You can keep this stuff in your locker and all wards should have a fridge where they can put patients own food like yoghurts etc.
Relatives can bring in meals/take aways for you if you/they wish with permission from the doctors/nurses of course.

I don't think in the present state of the NHS that catering departments can cope with anything beyond school dinner type catering. There have been so many initiatives over the last few years but I have seen precious little improvement.

 

[Geocacher]

What I find most annoying about my local hospital is that is has a private section where private patients are seen by the same staff, use the same facilities, and are kept in better rooms with a better staff to patient ration and served more appropriate meals.

I wouldn't know about it at all if I hadn't been put in that section after surgery when there wasn't a ward bed available. The difference was dramatic. Being put into the private section made my stay much more pleasant, but the attitude of the staff was pathetic. I had a room next to the nurses station and with the door open got to hear them whinge constantly about the 'extra patients' they had 'dumped on them' who weren't paying for their stay and didn't deserve to be there. It was also clear that those of us who were NHS patients were treated as a lower priority than the other patients who were also there.

How can equipment, staff, and facilities paid for by the NHS be used to provide better care for patients who can afford to circumvent the system when waiting lists for everyone else are so long and patients are being denied care due to a lack of resources?

 

[Superchip]

Just had a week in the Papworth Hotel, food was on the whole well cooked and a good choice. Like an earlier poster said you take your choice of what is on offer, don't expect to be pandered to, it's not their job.

Make intelligent choices and get people to bring in foodstuffs that suit your diabetic levels. SIMPLE !

The only exception I made to what was on offer were what they ' tongue in cheek ' referred to as ' fish fingers ! '
You could have repaired a hole in a battleship with those ! with mushy peas that resembled what may have passed through the digestive tract of a long since departed rat. Still, mustn't grumble eh ?

Keep calm and eat fat !

Roy