Katrina Stokes: New Royal Adelaide food needs to be better than this
PEOPLE going into hospital don’t expect a three-star Michelin star degustation but it would be nice to know that an edible meal is available at the new RAH, writes Katrina Stokes.
STUFF that looks vaguely like lamb casserole, sad-looking orange things that are actually mushy carrots and meat as dry as the Nullarbor Plain are among some of the food morsels on offer at the new Royal Adelaide Hospital.
Since the $2.3 billion hospital opened in early September many patients — and their families — have been mortified about the quality of the food that is being dished out to ailing South Australians.
Just before the hospital opened its doors, I was invited to taste test the food. Keeping in mind the food is meant for hospital consumption I wasn’t really expecting it was going to be an overwhelming culinary experience. Most of the food was bland but presented well and was reasonably edible.
But then the RAH opened — and the bad reviews came flooding in. One patient described their meal as “looking like something their dog threw up that morning”.
“The doctor and dietitian were mortified (by the food) … it (the meal) looked like bark chips,” the man, who was treated at the RAH for several weeks, told The Advertiser back in October.
Fast forward and the bad rap continues. Yesterday, Somerton Park resident Robert Willoughby wrote a letter to the editor describing the meals as “truly third world”.
“I have never seen such poorly prepared meals served up in the name of ‘food’,” he said. Mr Willoughby went on to say his wife, who was already underweight because of illness, lost a further 2kg in just one week and he was forced to take in food from home for her to eat. The new RAH is a place that is meant to be aiding recovery, not hindering it.
SA Health has been working with the hospital’s contractor, Spotless, to improve the quality of the food. There are mixed reports about their success, with Mr Willoughby among those who appear to remain deeply dissatisfied.
People going into hospital don’t expect a three-star Michelin star degustation but it would be nice to know that an edible meal is available. Options should not have to be an internal food court, Uber Eats (hello Nordburger and angry dietitian) or something like one of my mum’s care packages. It’s a well-known fact that food — and nutrition — is pivotal to a patient’s speedy recovery.
Good, nutritious wholesome food helps patients get better more quickly, go home sooner and, therefore, free up coveted bed space in an overcrowded and overwhelmed hospital system.
Discharging people earlier from hospitals was a primary goal in the State Government’s controversial Transforming Health overhaul.
This is why fixing the RAH food issue is critical. Its patients must be able to eat — and digest — what they are being served.
Katrina Stokes is Health Reporter with The Advertiser