Scottish patients will get better food - Alex Neil

PATIENTS have been promised better hospital food by the Scottish government as part of a shake-up of nutrition and catering in the NHS.

Improved standards in the quality of food served to people in hospital wards will be introduced in the New Year, Scotlands health secretary Alex Neil pledged. Picture: John Devlin

Improved standards in the quality of food served to people in hospital wards will be introduced in the New Year, Scotland’s health secretary Alex Neil pledged.

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The shake-up will include a tougher inspection regime as well as a consultation on whether to introduce a legal duty on health boards to serve patients quality hospital meals.

There will also be a further £300,000 invested to help health boards to improve nutritional care on top of funding of more than £1.75 million, the Scottish government said it had provided since 2008.

Mr Neil said: “We have been working on these new guidelines for some time as part of an ongoing review of nutritional standards.

“This is part of a package of measures that will help to ensure that hospital food continues to improve, that NHS boards have the appropriate amount of support and advice that they need to deliver these improvements and that we have an even stronger inspection process.”

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