From Measuring Up: [1] 

"In the NHS we have begun to realise that the environment in which we treat our patients can sometimes be as critical as the way in which we treat them. It is perplexing therefore to walk into a hospital canteen, a place where we should be sending strong signals about good nutrition, to find that the food provision is unhealthy and fails to meet the same requirements that we expect, for example, in schools. It is even more astonishing that in many hospital receptions patients pass by high-street fast food franchises or vending machines selling confectionery, sugary drinks and crisps. If the NHS is to send out a message that it takes the obesity crisis seriously, then it needs at the very least to avoid providing the same obesogenic environment as the high street and make sure that patients and staff alike are offered healthy and nutritious meal choices.

The sustainable food alliance Sustain has long campaigned on this issue and point out that while schools and prisons have food standards, to improve the health of children and prisoners, hospitals do not. [2] In the same manner that smoking was banned in hospitals and healthcare settings, we believe that staff and patients should be given healthy catering options.

There are many ways to present nutritionally balanced meals which are also attractive and affordable. Indeed, we were pleased during the writing of this report that our recommendation has already been partially adopted by the Department of Health in England with the announcement of new ‘principles’ for hospital food which will be evaluated by teams of assessors, half of whom must be patients.

However, these ‘principles’ are vague and voluntary and may by themselves have little impact. We think that mandatory standards may prove necessary. We hope that the health departments in the other home nations take on the challenge, and that mandatory standards for food are introduced in hospitals across the UK."