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During his speech, which took place at the NHS Innovation Expo Conference in Manchester last week, Mr. Stevens highlighted how NHS organisations will be supported to help their staff to stay well, including plans to serve healthier food.
Outlets and retailers which
offer food that does not meet
nutritional standards will either be banned from NHS hospitals or have to change
their menus up and down the UK.
Vending machines will be
affected as well, and therefore banned from selling certain sugar and/or salt-based snacks currently on
display.
I am not terribly surprised by
the fact that food and meals available in hospitals can be unhealthy. No longer than three years ago, in fact, I
visited the A&E department of a North London hospital, where a service
worker brought sandwiches fully loaded with not very light ingredients to
patients. It was supposed to be our lunch
and I was puzzled.
So, the recent announcement
from Mr. Stevens, which follows an investigation on the scale of the fast-food
by national newspaper The Daily Telegraph,
is preparing the ground for healthier menus in hospital wards, and a new
regulation will hopefully come into force soon.
Meanwhile health campaigners
have criticised the fact that chains like Burger King and Greggs, as well as 92
branches of Costa Coffee selling muffins and high-sugar drinks, are all located
inside many hospitals in the UK.
