Welsh hospitals throw food down the drain

Welsh hospitals waste nearly£1m worth of food every year, according to a survey by the Audit Commission.

The report concludes that more needs to be done to improve the quality of catering.The NHS in Wales spends more than£20m a year serving more than 16 million meals.The commission found that threequarters of the 20 trusts surveyed did not systematically screen patients on admission to identify their nutritional needs, and a 'significant number'of Welsh hospitals wasted 10 per cent or more of the meals they produced.However, the report commended the fact that 80 per cent of the hospitals developed tools to assess patients'dietary needs, and that dieticians were commonly involved in menu planning.

www. audit-commission. gov. uk