How can hospitals be allowed to rate the quality of their own food:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/hospitals-own-food-top-marks-231337423.html#mQlUSzB

How stupid: of course anybody being allowed to rate themselves highly will do so especially when they have a public image to maintain. I’ve seen the sorry state of hospital food on television documentaries and from working in care myself; and being subjected to that is the absolute last thing that will do any good and the last thing I would want.

Good food is a necessity to good health, which means nutritious food, not whatever can be crammed into microwavable packaging at the lowest cost. Considering the effect of food on mental health and the psychological aspect of immunity and recovery a need for good food becomes apparent.

Patients should therefore most definitely have the same right to good food as ‘government ministers, school kids and prisoners’ as the Campaign for better Hospital Food are putting it.

That being said let’s examine hospital funding and see how they make their money:

NHS rents rather than buys hospitals so as a result private companies which own our NHS hospitals can;

·         Charge for television privileges (£10 per day)

·         Only WH Smith stores not to sell books (I can only assume to pressure longer staying patients into purchasing telly privileges or magazine after magazine)

·         Car parking fees for people driving themselves in, visitors and staff

·         Only afford to bulk buy microwave meals rather than cook high quality and tasty food.

I can fully sympathise with people thinking the NHS is losing its perspective, especially when people are at times so bored if they cannot afford to pay for entertainment that they go out of there mind. I had a mate tell me about a 3 day stint in hospital and he saw on the other side of the ward someone who looked like he had been in for days: he looked like he was going out of his mind: well who can afford £70 a week just to watch telly?

People say you can’t put a price on happiness, well apparently you can; our NHS may be free at point of entry but the fee’s start going up as soon as that point is passed if you actually want the stay in hospital to be a comfortable experience.