Royal Adelaide Hospital patient forced to ask friends to bring her ‘edible food’

A RAH patient says she had to resort to having friends bring food during her five-week stay, branding the hospital grub “inedible" after being served dried-out chicken and “mouldy” veg.

A RAH patient says she had resorted to telling friends “please bring me food” because her hospital meals were “inedible”.

She says mould on one piece of food in the shape of a frown finally put an end to her eating the hospital food, and friends stepped in.

The patient – who wished only to be called “Betina” because she still has three weeks to go of a five-week stay – said she had no special dietary requirements except no red meat or fish.

“It is just not edible in my opinion,” Betina said.

“On the menu it sounds fine. One dish was called ‘chicken with Hokkien noodles and vegetables’ that made it sound like a stir-fry.

“It was dry boiled chicken bits and boiled vegetables with no sauce.

“The end came when they served me a lump of cauliflower with mould growing on it in the shape of a frowny face.

“That’s when friends jumped in and have been bringing me food. They were quite keen to bring me food when they had a look at the mould.”

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Off their food: RAH food photographed by a patient who says they lost their appetite. Picture: Supplied

Another unappetising meal at the RAH. Picture: Supplied

The patient was forced to rely on friends to bring her meals: Picture: Supplied

Betina is currently immobile, and said it is hard to get to ground-floor cafes at the hospital.

“The staff are good, and they seem to be using Australian products, and I’m all for that, but patients are dragging themselves out for food which is not good,’’ she said.

An Central Adelaide Local Health Network spokeswoman would only say: “The Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) recognises the important role nutrition plays in a person’s health and wellbeing and strives to provides healthy meals that meet their needs”.

“The RAH is subject to regular food safety audits to ensure meals are in line with national standards, with the most recent audit completed in March 2021 and accreditation granted for 12 months.”

But SA Health refused to provide the results of the audit to The Advertiser, and refused to even say which company was currently contracted to provide the food.

SA Health also refused to say;

- For the delivery of food services only; how many times in the 2020/2021 financial year was a complaint made by anyone about the provision of food at the RAH, for any reason?

- How many times has the hospital contacted food providers with such complaints and asked them to provide a response to the hospital or the complainant?

- What were those responses?

- Have any punitive measures been taken or threatened against the food contractors?

- If so what were they, why were they made or threatened and how many times?