Independent review of Hospital Food published

MonikaPrime can help hospital foodservice operations follow the recommendations of the recently published “Independent Review of Hospital Food” to ensure food safety is managed well within our busy and essential hospitals. The review, which was commissioned as a result of a number of fatal listeria outbreaks in 2019 identifies and acknowledges the difficulties faced by caterers and nursing staff, and makes a number of recommendations to bring about positive change.

Key failings identified by the authors regarding such outbreaks have included cold chain issues, for example, unclear procedures for checking fridge or chilled trolley temperatures at ward level; inadequate cleaning of food contact surfaces and poor shelf life controls.

The FSA also found responsibility for food safety at ward level was often confused and that there were not clear HACCP systems in place. In addition, food hygiene training was seen to be often overlooked for ‘non-catering’ staff such as nurses, although it is in fact a legal requirement for all staff who may come into contact with food.

The report’s recommendations include that controls over food such as sandwiches, one of the causes of the 2019 listeria outbreaks, must be implemented consistently to prevent any bacteria from growing to unsafe levels. Measures should include shelf life and temperature controls and appropriate HACCP food management systems must be in place overall.

MonikaPrime offers an easy solution to food safety – both in foodservice outlets and on the ward. Effective equipment management ensures temperatures are continually monitored without manual intervention, and alarms will notify staff when food temperatures move out of safe range. This means food can be saved before it becomes unsafe or discarded if it has already become so.

In addition, as a complete food safety management system, MonikaPrime takes the principles of HACCP into consideration. The Team Management module can furthermore help operators manage tasks and checks such as shelf life and hygiene checks, with prompts when tasks fall due and full reporting to identify areas of good practice as well as training needs.

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