Episode 2 Operation Hospital Food with James Martin


Episode 2

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Every year, the NHS spends around ?500 million on hospital food.

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But it's reckoned that almost half the patients refuse to eat it.

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Because they find it inedible. What's wrong with the mash?

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You could hang wallpaper up with it.

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I believe that everybody deserves to eat good food.

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To me, there's nowhere where food is more important than in a hospital.

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It's estimated the previous government spent more than

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?50 million on failed initiatives to change the food on our wards.

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Scarborough General Hospital is up for change.

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For the next three months, I'm working alongside the kitchen staff to try and make a difference.

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Pat, I'm trying to help you. I know.

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Everything's out of a tin, a packet.

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Everything. All the veg are frozen.

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There's also a personal reason I want to take this on.

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I watched my grandmother pass away in hospital.

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She was a huge influence on me in terms of food

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and teaching me about food.

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To watch her suffer and to watch her eat the stuff

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served in the hospital was not fantastic.

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The only way to change it is to get off your backside

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and do something about it.

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I spent 19 years of my life living in Yorkshire.

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Three of which were in Scarborough at the local catering college.

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I even had a flat above an arcade over there.

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I never went to the hospital while I was here, thank goodness.

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But I'm here for the next three months to help transform

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the food in the NHS.

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A tough job? I think so.

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I've been given exclusive access to behind the scenes

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at Scarborough General Hospital

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and have already seen for myself what the patients think of the food.

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As a package, it is pretty poor.

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Cabbage and carrots cooked to within an inch of their life. The potatoes - don't like it at all.

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What's wrong with the mash?

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When you swallow it, it seems to go down in a big lump.

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But the patients at Scarborough aren't alone.

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A survey of 1,000 hospital patients in 2010 found that a third

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thought the food was unacceptable.

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Based on what I've seen so far here,

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I'm beginning to think the way to successfully bring about change that will stick

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is by addressing some bad habits, inefficiencies,

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and the way that the Trust funds the kitchen.

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I've found the menu system is far too complicated.

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There's too much wastage. About 40 per cent of the food gets binned.

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Once you've done this, what happens to this lot?

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Whatever's left gets disposed of.

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There's not enough fresh produce featured on the menus.

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Everything's out of a tin, a packet. Everything. All the veg are frozen.

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But money is tight, with a daily budget of just ?3.49 per patient.

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So I'm planning to supplement this

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with the profits from a revamped restaurant on site.

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I believe this is probably the only place that we've got to generate good income.

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Yeah. Yeah.

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Taking all these factors into account, I've come up with

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a five-point action plan.

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Simplify and improve the menu, reduce the wastage on the wards,

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win the hearts and minds of those on the front line,

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cook with fresh ingredients using local suppliers,

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and to pay for all of this, generate an income from the restaurant

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to plough back into the kitchen.

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For my plan to have any chance of success,

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I need to get the whole team on board.

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They do a tremendous job, cooking over 1,000 meals each day

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while sticking within their limited budget of just over ?1 per dish.

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These people are, you know, not just Joe Bloggs off the street,

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they're highly trained professional chefs doing it

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in their retirement, or doing it at the end of their career.

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They still want to create stuff out of fresh veg.

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At the helm is catering manager Pat Bell.

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She's been here for over 20 years and is supported by a loyal

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and dedicated team including, head chef Sharon Ellis,

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who's been cooking at the hospital for a staggering 27 years.

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Alan Rosbottom, also known as Big Al,

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who has been here almost as long - with 21 years under his belt.

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And Darren Glover, known as Big Bird to his colleagues,

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who's practically a newbie - he's been here for five years.

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And the man whose backing I need to make all this happen

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is the hospital's chef executive, Mike Proctor.

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Today, I want to focus on the key to good health and good food - finding great ingredients.

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The better the food, the happier the patients and, potentially,

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the bigger the profit for the hospital restaurant.

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I want the staff to start to view their public restaurant more as a business.

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At the moment, only 25% of the staff use it and many visitors don't even know it exists.

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There are no signs advertising anywhere to go, so we presumed there wasn't anywhere.

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If I knew what was on the menu, erm...

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cost, and where it was.

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We need to use this restaurant more. My ambitious plans to use better-quality ingredients

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hinge on us being able to generate additional income from it.

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It's early in the kitchen. The guys start at six.

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This is the busiest time, so I'm going to give them a hand.

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'To find out more about the food the restaurant serves,

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'I'm helping head chef Sharon prepare tomorrow's special.'

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So tell me what these are for? These are beefburgers or cheeseburgers

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depending on what we decide to do with them. These are for tomorrow lunch for staff. Staff? Yeah.

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And these prove popular? Yeah, very popular.

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We put fried onions on them and cheese. They go crazy on them. Right.

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Is this on every day or not? No, it comes on a cycle. It's every three weeks it comes round.

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'I can't believe that a popular, and therefore potentially profitable, dish

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'is only on the menu once every three weeks.'

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And how many people would you serve for lunch, say?

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Oh, er, probably a hundred, maybe more. I don't really know, to be honest.

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We do a lot of takeaways, you know, there's a lot of uptake for that now.

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Takeaways? Yeah, to take them back, cos a lot of them only get half an hour's lunch break.

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Right. I think they kind of take it back to their office or wherever

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and maybe eat as they go.

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'With over 2,200 staff working here, we have a potential goldmine

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'and should definitely tap into the takeaway market,

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'which could mean anything from burgers to baguettes.'

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I'd like Pat to look into buying more of her produce closer to home.

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Apart from the nutritional benefits to the patients, from using fresher ingredients,

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there is a chance she could also save money.

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According to a 2010 report from the Soil Association,

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the NHS is wasting millions of pounds on food by failing to source fresh produce from local suppliers.

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Mike Bond is one of their campaigners.

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As an organisation, we're interested in food

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and its impact on the planet and ourselves.

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You kind of act as a middleman between the farmer and the caterer, I suppose.

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Yeah, absolutely. It's based on some real fundamentals -

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a move to kind of fresh food, removing problem additives,

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some legal minimal animal welfare standards,

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introducing organic, introducing and encouraging more local food,

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more sustainable fish, that type of thing.

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Why hasn't this happened in the past? Because, you know,

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hospitals, dare I say, have been kind of left out really on a limb

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when it comes to, you know, looking at food like that.

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Food is an important part of life.

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Food is fundamental. Food is fundamental to our health.

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It's what we put in ourselves to nourish ourselves.

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If you look at the government at the moment,

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they spend ?6 billion a year on fighting dietary-related ill-health.

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If you just think about that term, "dietary-related" -

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what we eat is making us ill, and at an increasing level.

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And they're spending ?6 billion?

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?6 billion on fighting that, on trying to combat that,

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so, surely addressing the food in the very places that we come

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to make us well is, you know,

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is a really fundamental task.

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Part of the Soil Association's role is to inspect businesses to see if they meet their high standards.

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What is the main thing here that sticks out for you?

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Generally, kind of problem areas would be things where either artificial sweeteners appear...

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Right. Things like aspartame or monosodium glutamate flavour enhancer E621.

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So generally we find those things in stocks and bouillons, that type of thing,

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big tubs on the shelf. I see your eye line going. Yeah.

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Am I right in thinking that the first thing on the list is the most amount? Yes.

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The first thing on the list in this stock is salt. Yeah.

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The second thing is monosodium glutamate. Yeah.

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I've never really looked at these labels that much.

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Yeah. Now, dare I ask about this?

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Actually I wouldn't be surprised if this met, you know, the kind of additives... Yeah.

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..but really again this is about the principle of what it is

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and we're trying to encourage dishes to be freshly prepared, cooked from scratch.

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Do you want him to show him the rest of the kitchen? Yeah, come on.

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To help encourage Pat to use more local produce,

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I want her to try to become the third UK hospital

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to currently hold the Soil Association's Bronze Catering Mark Award.

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The criteria include -

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meals contain no undesirable food additives or hydrogenated fats,

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75% of dishes are freshly prepared,

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all eggs are from cage-free hens,

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menus are seasonal,

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no genetically-modified ingredients are used.

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This is my freezer. We've just had a big delivery today.

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You can say that again. Where does that fish come from?

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Erm... Don't say the sea.

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I believe the trip goes, that they buy in Grimsby... Right.

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They take it back to their warehouse in Wincanton... Somerset.

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And then deliver it back to me.

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Brilliant. It must be a good 12-hour round trip. It's pretty shocking, to be honest.

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And on this side, all the veg that we actually serve

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as a vegetable on the menu is frozen.

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The notion of freshly prepared and seasonality is a really important one

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because what's seasonal is what's available to you locally.

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That means that you can support the local economy,

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but it also means that, in theory, it's available, it's plentiful,

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and should be cost effective for you to purchase as well.

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There are fundamental changes which need to be made. A move away from the packet products.

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It could be a really exciting project for Pat and her team

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to engage with local suppliers and local farmers,

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which hopefully then passes on to the customer at the end of the day,

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that the patients enjoy the meals and that the staff get to eat better food.

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It amazes me how much of Pat's food doesn't come from Yorkshire,

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especially as we're located in the heart of some of the finest and most fertile farming land in the country.

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Pat has control of a ?500,000 food budget

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and spends almost ?80,000 on dairy produce alone, but rather than use a local dairy,

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her milk comes from a huge multinational company which has branches all across the UK.

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If she were to buy from farms on her doorstop, she may not only save precious pennies

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but also give a huge boost to the local economy.

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There's been a lot of talk about British dairy farming over recent years.

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Not long ago there used to be 28,000 UK dairy farms,

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that's just dropped to just under 11,000, with nine every single week going out of business.

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If you don't support them, sights like this will be gone forever.

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One farmer who went out of business is Michael Ricketson.

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He took over his father's dairy farm years ago and despite working seven days a week, all year long

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without ever taking a day off, he still couldn't make ends meet.

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About 18 months ago,

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we were forced into the position where we had to make a decision,

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and the decision was, could we carry on producing milk at a loss?

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The amount we were getting for a litre of milk at one stage dropped down to 16 pence.

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Just latterly at the end it got to about 22 pence,

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but at that particular time it was probably costing 26 pence to produce,

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so it doesn't take a mathematician to work out that that's a no-brainer.

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But if hospitals like Scarborough were sourcing their produce locally,

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then Michael's dairy farm could potentially still be producing milk.

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It was probably the most emotional day of my life

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and there was certainly a tear in me eye at the end of the day

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when some of me nicest pets left the farm.

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The situation has become so dire that the average dairy farmer today makes just ?20,000 a year

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while working a 60-hour week.

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Just one of the reasons why many have finally called it a day.

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Now, sadly, stories like Michael's are commonplace throughout the UK and the farming community.

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In a bid to stop that happening to producers right on Scarborough's doorstep,

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the best way is to get the guys out of the kitchen

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and to experience what it's like to produce and taste the produce right on their doorstep.

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And I think by bringing them to a farm, they'll really understand how good and how cheap

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and how local produce can really be.

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Pat, her deputy catering manager Dawn, and chef Josie

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are stuck within the four walls of the hospital

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day in and day out, so I've brought them to the Acorn Dairy Farm in Darlington.

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The farm has been run by the Tweddle family since 1928

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and the only way they've survived this long is by adapting their farming methods.

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Unable to compete with larger mass-producing dairy farms,

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in the late 1990s, they decided to move away from intensive farming and go into the organic milk market,

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as Caroline Tweddle explains.

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We are producing a quality product, shown to produce more Omega-3s,

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vitamins A and D, and antioxidants

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because of the way the cows are being looked after

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and they're grazing naturally-produced grass with clover.

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They're not being pushed, they're producing a natural volume of milk.

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It's producing a product that the customer wants,

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as opposed to producing a product at cheapest price.

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In order to have more control over their end product, the family set up their own processing plant,

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not only to bottle their milk but also to make their own cream and butter.

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It's here that I want Pat and her team to have a look round first.

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At the moment, Pat's milk comes from a large consortium of dairies and travels around 120 miles.

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How long is it between, obviously coming from the cow, from milking,

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to in the container, out to the customers.

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The milk that the guys are packing here today was in the cow last night.

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OK?

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What volume of milk do you process in a day?

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Here, we are a small-scale dairy, OK? There are dairies out there

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doing in an hour what we're doing in a week. A typical run in here would be about 20,000 litres.

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That's still an awful lot, isn't it, yeah?

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Now one thing that I've found fascinating about this -

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I've learnt something, the girls have learnt something

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and I think it strikes a chord in Pat's mind that she's buying milk

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and it's from 120 miles away, and it's a consortium. It's that mixture of all these different farms.

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However, you've got somebody right on her doorstep who above all else is willing to cut their prices

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to support the NHS and and we get a better quality product.

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It's brilliant. It's a win-win for everybody.

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If we cut out the middle man, we're going to reduce the cost to a certain extent

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and by reducing the cost in that way, by knocking out the middle man,

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we might be able to improve the quality of what we're actually going to be using in the department.

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And what we're putting on the menus. Yeah, and that can only be good all the way round.

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And keeping these people in business as well.

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Yeah, I mean, why should they be importing milk in

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from other countries

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when we've got farmers here who are going out of business?

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That's absolutely ridiculous.

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It's great to see Pat is starting to see the light,

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but it's not over yet.

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Come on, Pat!

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Got a loose one, pat!

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This way!

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Don't say anything about the helmet.

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Didn't realise you were going to be doing this today, did you?

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And once the cows are all in, it's time for Pat to get her hands dirty.

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This I haven't done since I was a little kid

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when I used to help my granddad, when he was on his farm.

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Yeah this is what happens, this is where milk comes from and people

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should realise that this is where milk comes from,

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it's just not bought in a bottle

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or in a carton in a supermarket, isn't it?

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Well I've been to, you know, high output farms

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and it's nothing like this. There's feed in the trays,

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these are happy cows, but this is testament to how farming should be

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and it always was like this,

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it's just our only interest as a nation

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obsessed with cheaper and cheaper food,

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just goes to prove there isn't such thing as cheap good food,

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there's good food but not cheap food.

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With diet-related ill health estimated to cost us a staggering

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?6 billion every year, I find it amazing that hospitals

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still rely so heavily on processed food,

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especially packet soups which are high in salt and additives

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but low in protein and vitamins.

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My plan is for them to utilise fresh seasonal produce and make their own soups

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which not only will be more nutritious,

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but also taste so much better.

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And as we're here on the farm I'm taking the opportunity to show

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the team how they can use the dairy products to enhance the hospital dishes.

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Now I'm going to do two soups,

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I'm going to do a cauliflower and apple soup

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and a squash and lemon soup, or squash and lime soup.

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Squashes, could use pumpkin or we can just do simply carrot.

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What do you reckon to the dairy anyway?

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Ah, absolutely fantastic. Yeah?

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I love these people that we've met today, they've been

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you know, so hospitable and friendly.

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And it really makes you feel that you want to use them. Yeah.

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Well, it's supporting them, it's supporting you. Yeah, that's right.

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And you've got huge buying power.

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Yeah, yeah. That's what I was trying to say to you guys.

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Cos we're on a farm, Pat and I would get lynched if I used margarine.

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Real, real, real butter.

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We've got real butter from just over there, look. So use a bit of butter,

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right? Put those in there and this is just to sweat this down nicely.

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Hot water, just to cover it,

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for five minutes,

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that's all we're going to cook it for.

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With the butternut squash and lime soup cooking away,

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I move on to my second soup.

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Cauliflower, apple.

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What I'm trying to teach you about this sort of idea

0:21:090:21:12

is that if we buy seasonal produce, you walk around your supermarket,

0:21:120:21:16

you go round your veg monger and,

0:21:160:21:18

and see whatever food's really cheap at the moment.

0:21:180:21:21

This soup is so simple. All I add to the cauliflower and apple is butter,

0:21:220:21:28

a bit of water and some milk.

0:21:280:21:30

Cook for just five minutes,

0:21:300:21:32

blend and the soup is ready for the sternest of tests, Pat.

0:21:320:21:37

Soup one.

0:21:400:21:41

Dive into that.

0:21:440:21:46

I've got the big spoon!

0:21:460:21:48

You've got the big spoon, yes.

0:21:480:21:50

I wonder why they've given me this one.

0:21:500:21:52

Yeah that's nice, ooh, that's gorgeous.

0:21:530:21:56

I would have never thought

0:21:570:21:58

cauliflower soup could taste like that.

0:21:580:22:00

But will it be two out of two?

0:22:020:22:04

The squash soup needs just a squeeze of lime and it's ready.

0:22:040:22:07

This, I think you'll like.

0:22:080:22:10

That's a lovely colour as well, it's gorgeous.

0:22:100:22:12

No I like, I like them both. I like that.

0:22:150:22:17

Let's not have a cat fight girls.

0:22:170:22:19

I like limes you see, so... More to go James.

0:22:190:22:22

You carry on like this, mate, you got no problem.

0:22:220:22:25

Exactly, thank you very much.

0:22:250:22:26

In order to be able to improve the food served at the Scarborough General Hospital,

0:22:320:22:36

I need to simplify the menu

0:22:360:22:38

and change the emphasis away from quantity and back to quality.

0:22:380:22:43

They currently rotate their menus on a three week basis,

0:22:430:22:46

which means that every day for 21 days the patients are offered a new menu to choose off,

0:22:460:22:52

both for their lunch and dinner. This means the kitchen staff

0:22:520:22:55

cook over 100 different dishes.

0:22:550:22:58

But as the average length of stay is only four and a half days,

0:22:580:23:02

I propose cutting the menu down to a one week cycle instead.

0:23:020:23:05

By doing this, we'll be able to buy more in bulk

0:23:050:23:08

and streamline Pat's ordering.

0:23:080:23:09

Any money saved can be then ploughed into buying

0:23:090:23:12

better quality ingredients.

0:23:120:23:14

At first it was a bit of a struggle to persuade Pat.

0:23:140:23:18

Because I think what they will come back and say to me is, he's only

0:23:180:23:23

been here a day and he's chopped the menu.

0:23:230:23:27

I'm not, I'm not on about... I've been in a day,

0:23:270:23:29

I'm trying to make it easier for you.

0:23:290:23:31

I know, but what I don't want them to feel is that he's come in,

0:23:310:23:35

you've agreed Pat, to chop two thirds off the menu.

0:23:350:23:38

But finally with Pat on board,

0:23:420:23:44

I'm hoping I've got a good chance to push this through.

0:23:440:23:46

Give it a go,

0:23:480:23:50

please.

0:23:500:23:51

I've never begged in my life.

0:23:520:23:54

I appreciate what you're saying, and I think we've all got to give it a go.

0:23:540:23:58

We...we've got to have a go, just to see how it goes.

0:23:580:24:01

But what if we aren't happy and none of them are happy upstairs?

0:24:010:24:04

Well then, it's got to be reviewed, hasn't it? If they're not.

0:24:040:24:07

Right - menu.

0:24:070:24:10

What have you got? Can I tell you what our customers want first? Yeah.

0:24:100:24:13

They want comfort food. Yeah.

0:24:130:24:15

They love stews, pies, hotpot, they don't like the mash potato.

0:24:150:24:19

All the veg, we need to concentrate on the cooking of it.

0:24:190:24:22

They love your rice pudding.

0:24:220:24:24

They like your rice pudding, they don't like the custard.

0:24:250:24:28

So, what I'm proposing is we take the custard off,

0:24:280:24:32

totally, and we put cream on.

0:24:320:24:36

You're going to tell me you're not going to have custard upstairs

0:24:360:24:39

in the staff dining room, just going to have cream? No.

0:24:390:24:41

I'm not going to put custard on the menu.

0:24:410:24:44

Well, I think you're a nutter! THEY LAUGH

0:24:440:24:47

I don't like cream, James.

0:24:470:24:48

Where's that custard, where's the custard? I don't like cream, James. Right, wait there, Pat.

0:24:480:24:52

And do I not have crumble and custard a lot?

0:24:520:24:55

Wait there, Pat. Personally, I don't like cream.

0:24:550:24:58

Wait a second.

0:24:580:25:00

That is what it looks like when it goes on the wards.

0:25:020:25:05

Don't say it's been here two hours,

0:25:050:25:07

it's not, that was served off the ward.

0:25:070:25:09

Come on, everybody's got to eat it.

0:25:120:25:16

It's not custard.

0:25:160:25:17

Are they leaving you out? If they've got to, I will. Well, I'll better have some more,

0:25:220:25:26

cos I'm never going to be able to eat it again if you're taking it off.

0:25:260:25:29

What you've got to realise, it goes in those containers,

0:25:290:25:32

then it's super-heated for ten minutes and by the time it gets...

0:25:320:25:35

It's sat there for 15 minutes, by the time it gets on the ward

0:25:350:25:38

it's knackered. Imagine what the veg was like.

0:25:380:25:41

You know what I mean?

0:25:410:25:42

That's the realism of what the patients are eating. Yeah.

0:25:420:25:46

It's great when it leaves here, not up there. So, ideas?

0:25:460:25:51

What works as comfort food, pies.

0:25:510:25:53

Beef and mushroom pie, beef and onion pie.

0:25:530:25:57

The chicken casserole. What's that.

0:25:570:25:59

Mince and dumplings. Shepherd's pie.

0:25:590:26:01

All the sponges go.

0:26:010:26:03

Syrup sponge and custard. Jam. Sticky toffee.

0:26:030:26:07

We don't actually do that ourselves, but it sounds good.

0:26:070:26:11

Pudding, bread and butter pudding. Thank you.

0:26:110:26:15

We are, we'll give it a go.

0:26:150:26:16

Come on! Yes Pat, give me a hug.

0:26:160:26:19

I didn't ask for a kiss as well, but...

0:26:190:26:21

You've got to convince us. I will convince you,

0:26:210:26:24

I want you to fall in love with food again.

0:26:240:26:26

You're all wearing that for a reason.

0:26:260:26:29

And I want you to feel proud about when you...

0:26:290:26:32

and I'm going to help you out my end, we'll sort of your restaurant,

0:26:320:26:36

we'll sort out your bits and pieces,

0:26:360:26:38

but I really do believe there's not a single person upstairs

0:26:380:26:41

in the ward, or working in the hospital that won't be willing

0:26:410:26:44

to try that, and most importantly, pay for it.

0:26:440:26:47

Pat has only a limited budget of ?3.49 per patient, per day.

0:26:510:26:56

In order for my plan to work,

0:26:560:26:58

we will need to find a way of generating income

0:26:580:27:01

which in turn we can plough back into the kitchen.

0:27:010:27:05

I've identified the hospital restaurant as the one area

0:27:060:27:09

that Pat has to make money.

0:27:090:27:11

A lot of visitors don't know it even exists,

0:27:110:27:13

and many of the staff go across the road to buy their sandwiches.

0:27:130:27:17

In terms of staff. Yeah?

0:27:170:27:19

If we have somebody up here either,

0:27:190:27:21

just somebody making sandwiches or something,

0:27:210:27:24

do you know what I mean?

0:27:240:27:25

I mean, sandwiches would be popular in the morning, as well.

0:27:250:27:29

I think they'd be hugely popular at lunchtime.

0:27:290:27:31

So, yeah, I think they will be popular at lunchtime as well.

0:27:310:27:34

What I want to think that this is the perfect counter, innit, really,

0:27:340:27:38

here to make baguettes. I know you're on about baguettes but these, I mean these are not cheap anyway.

0:27:380:27:44

These are expensive.

0:27:440:27:45

And I always think freshly baked baguettes,

0:27:450:27:48

you've got a baguette thing, you've ovens downstairs.

0:27:480:27:52

If we get those frozen baguettes, the big ones.

0:27:520:27:54

Each one, each baguette does three portions,

0:27:540:27:57

so cost-wise they're the same. Then we do three or four fillings.

0:27:570:28:01

And they're homemade, yeah.

0:28:020:28:04

Yeah, and they're all homemade, but what I want to do

0:28:040:28:06

is speak to the nurses and find out what they want.

0:28:060:28:09

Right, OK. So I think...

0:28:090:28:10

Cos I know they're going over to a sandwich shop over the road,

0:28:100:28:14

at least 150 people.

0:28:140:28:15

If we can bring them here, what's that? Four quid a baguette?

0:28:150:28:19

600 quid at lunchtime.

0:28:190:28:21

You're in Scarborough James! Three quid a baguette.

0:28:210:28:24

Not in London or Leeds.

0:28:240:28:25

Well, it's got to be three quid a sandwich.

0:28:250:28:27

You buy... How much are these? Well, ?1.80...

0:28:270:28:31

It's a freshly-made baguette.

0:28:310:28:35

Yeah, we'd have to look at the price. Yeah.

0:28:350:28:38

And I mean, we'd have to trial them, wouldn't we?

0:28:380:28:41

At lunchtime we need more showy.

0:28:410:28:43

I think this could be quite, quite smart.

0:28:430:28:46

But regardless of how good it looks,

0:28:500:28:52

we still need to get customers through the door.

0:28:520:28:54

Right girls, I've been told that you are the ones that go

0:28:570:29:00

and do a baguette order, each day.

0:29:000:29:02

Every morning, yes. Is that right?

0:29:020:29:04

Yes. And that's from the baguette shop which is over the road?

0:29:040:29:07

It is, yeah. Why is it that people don't eat in the dining room?

0:29:070:29:10

Cos we just get, we get 30 minutes for lunch. Yeah.

0:29:100:29:15

And by the time you get over there and wait for the food. Yeah.

0:29:150:29:18

And bring it back and eat it and make a drink,

0:29:180:29:22

then you hardly have any time to sit down.

0:29:220:29:24

But if you could pre-order it, would that help, or not?

0:29:240:29:27

Yeah. Yes.

0:29:270:29:30

Cos when we go to the baguette shop,

0:29:300:29:32

we phone them through first.

0:29:320:29:34

If we were to do baguettes as good as they do over the road,

0:29:340:29:38

would that be good?

0:29:380:29:40

Yes. And if they're brought round to the ward to us.

0:29:400:29:44

If they brought them round to the ward to you?

0:29:440:29:46

You're asking too much now.

0:29:460:29:48

Can I ask you what's the average price you pay for a baguette?

0:29:480:29:52

?2.10. ?2.10. So you know it exactly.

0:29:520:29:55

That's for a ham salad with mayo.

0:29:550:29:57

It seems you know this off by heart, do you eat the same thing every day? Yes.

0:29:570:30:01

So the story of this seems to me, the story of every single ward,

0:30:010:30:05

you guys are busy all the time, you haven't got time.

0:30:050:30:09

If there was some way of actually bringing it around here,

0:30:090:30:12

it would solve a massive problem for you? Definitely.

0:30:120:30:15

Thank you. I'll leave you to carry on with your work.

0:30:150:30:18

That's all the information I need, thanks a lot. Thank you.

0:30:180:30:21

Now it really does make perfect sense

0:30:210:30:24

when you think that half the people eating here work here.

0:30:240:30:27

But there are issues you've got to overcome.

0:30:270:30:29

Time - the nurses are extremely busy, they can't get out very often,

0:30:290:30:33

cos I think we're missing something here.

0:30:330:30:35

These guys are ordering sandwiches every day, seven days a week.

0:30:350:30:39

They're on two shifts, there's 24 nurses per ward

0:30:390:30:42

and you calculate that by how many wards they've got here,

0:30:420:30:44

it's a huge amount of revenue the hospital is losing.

0:30:440:30:47

But if we can keep them all inside, they're happy,

0:30:470:30:50

and Pat'll be happy downstairs.

0:30:500:30:52

Hospitals are under constant pressure to cut their budgets

0:30:550:30:58

and whenever there's money to spend,

0:30:580:31:00

it goes on frontline clinical services.

0:31:000:31:03

Catering is way down on the list, but for my campaign

0:31:030:31:06

to be able to get off the ground, I need some investment from the Hospital Trust.

0:31:060:31:11

I've waited three weeks for this meeting

0:31:110:31:13

and I'm just about to meet the big boss of the Trust behind me,

0:31:130:31:17

and he's in charge of all the purse strings in the whole hospital,

0:31:170:31:20

so he dictates where all the money is spent, and to be honest,

0:31:200:31:25

over the last 20 years, not a lot has been spent in that kitchen.

0:31:250:31:29

And I'm, hopefully, going to be able to convince him

0:31:290:31:32

that spending a little bit will be able to generate a little bit

0:31:320:31:36

in terms of, fundamentally, that restaurant.

0:31:360:31:38

I see that as a good shop window.

0:31:380:31:40

So if I can justify a bit of money spent on the blackboards,

0:31:400:31:43

making the salad bar a little bit better,

0:31:430:31:45

hopefully he'll be a little bit receptive to that.

0:31:450:31:49

So, fingers crossed.

0:31:490:31:50

Hello, Mike.

0:31:530:31:54

Good to see you. Good to see you.

0:31:540:31:56

Now, Mike, you're the big boss here, would that be right?

0:31:580:32:03

Allegedly, yeah. Allegedly.

0:32:030:32:05

You haven't been here very long. No, about eight weeks.

0:32:050:32:08

Now, in terms of food, I've been round several hospitals.

0:32:080:32:12

Some are very positive when it comes to food,

0:32:120:32:15

some, dare I say, are last on the list when it comes to food.

0:32:150:32:20

I get the feeling that the front services get the lion's share,

0:32:200:32:24

the back services don't get any, to be honest.

0:32:240:32:27

And I think that's often the case

0:32:270:32:30

and one of the great things about you being here

0:32:300:32:32

is making us focus on food.

0:32:320:32:35

Cos it's very tempting as a chief executive of an organisation

0:32:350:32:38

just to simply think about clinical services

0:32:380:32:41

There's always something else you can spend your money on.

0:32:410:32:45

I've not got a massive list here, and I'm not going to... OK.

0:32:450:32:48

Pat wants a new kitchen.

0:32:480:32:49

You can say yes, or no. That'll be a no! OK...

0:32:490:32:52

She was promised one 19 years ago and she's still here -

0:32:520:32:56

I think she'll be here for another 19 years before it arrives.

0:32:560:32:59

But I know that that's not going to happen.

0:32:590:33:02

Now, in terms of equipment.

0:33:020:33:03

Yeah. You've got a steamer in the kitchen at the moment...

0:33:030:33:06

Yeah. ..that hasn't been fixed for 18 years.

0:33:060:33:09

Right.

0:33:090:33:12

I'm going to get them to clean it and give it a dust.

0:33:120:33:14

Can we make that a priority for our maintenance people to try and...

0:33:140:33:18

I think I've got the authority

0:33:180:33:20

to actually direct the service people towards the steamer.

0:33:200:33:23

Fabulous. Can we get a service team on it?

0:33:230:33:25

We can. I'll be on it later on today.

0:33:250:33:27

What I propose to do is have a look at the restaurant.

0:33:270:33:30

I see that as a revenue stream that comes back into the catering budget.

0:33:300:33:34

Absolutely, yeah.

0:33:340:33:35

To help you, not go into your kitties, to help us fund

0:33:350:33:38

in terms of equipment and everything else, it benefits everybody.

0:33:380:33:42

So, first of all, do I have any money,

0:33:420:33:44

or am I fighting a losing battle in terms of blackboards,

0:33:440:33:48

signage to draw people into the restaurant?

0:33:480:33:50

Because at the moment, you walk round the hospital

0:33:500:33:53

and there's nothing to say you've got a restaurant. OK. OK.

0:33:530:33:56

But in terms of that, I see the only way we're going to do that

0:33:560:33:59

is to make it a bit more of an appealing place for people to go.

0:33:590:34:03

I don't think... Part of the problem is,

0:34:030:34:05

the financial problems in the organisation,

0:34:050:34:07

there's been a stasis about decisions about things like that

0:34:070:34:10

and I want to change that atmosphere, give people some freedom.

0:34:100:34:13

I want to treat it like a business, and if I can justify

0:34:130:34:16

spending that money and bring you it in income,

0:34:160:34:18

through feeding people... I'll be happy.

0:34:180:34:20

Thank you very much. You're welcome. Deal done.

0:34:200:34:22

Mike has given us ?500 to help us get things started.

0:34:240:34:29

Having seen the state of the kitchen,

0:34:290:34:31

it's a drop in the ocean, really, but at least it's going to be

0:34:310:34:34

a start in terms of blackboards, and really get the ball rolling

0:34:340:34:38

in terms of decorating upstairs and doing something with it, at least.

0:34:380:34:42

But I get the feeling we're going to need a lot more money and support.

0:34:420:34:45

But we've got to start somewhere.

0:34:450:34:48

My plan for revamping the hospital food is taking shape.

0:34:530:34:57

I've shown Pat the benefits of buying locally-sourced produce.

0:34:570:35:01

Why should they be importing milk in from other countries,

0:35:010:35:05

when we've got farmers here who are going out of business?

0:35:050:35:08

That's absolutely ridiculous.

0:35:080:35:10

Demonstrated to her how easy it is to cook great soups from scratch.

0:35:100:35:14

I would have never though cauliflower soup tasted like that.

0:35:140:35:17

Helped the team to simplify the menu choices.

0:35:170:35:20

Comfort food, pies. Beef and mushroom pie, beef and onion pie.

0:35:200:35:24

Chicken casserole.

0:35:240:35:25

Thank you. We'll give it a go.

0:35:270:35:29

And most importantly,

0:35:290:35:31

started to get Pat thinking about using her restaurant

0:35:310:35:34

to generate income, so we can afford to buy better ingredients.

0:35:340:35:38

This is the perfect counter, isn't it, really, here, to make baguettes?

0:35:380:35:43

One of my key aims has been to win over the catering team -

0:35:500:35:54

a loyal and dedicated bunch -

0:35:540:35:56

but over the years, many of them have got stuck in a rut.

0:35:560:35:59

Darren has been at Scarborough for five years

0:35:590:36:01

and has become disillusioned with the daily grind.

0:36:010:36:05

Everyone gets stuck in between a rock and a hard place

0:36:050:36:08

and I suppose the mind gets bored, really, and I think a lot of people

0:36:080:36:13

just see this job now as a dead-end job, just a day-to-day job,

0:36:130:36:17

they just come to earn the money and go home.

0:36:170:36:20

What they don't realise is we're here to make a difference

0:36:200:36:23

to those patients, that's how I see it.

0:36:230:36:24

I think Darren really has what it takes

0:36:320:36:35

to cut it in commercial kitchens.

0:36:350:36:37

It's a talent that'll go a long way in helping the team

0:36:370:36:40

look at their new hospital restaurant as a business.

0:36:400:36:43

To egg them on, I've invited him, along with Pat and Sharon,

0:36:490:36:53

to visit my restaurant in Leeds.

0:36:530:36:55

Slightly different, obviously,

0:36:570:36:58

to what the guys in the hospital will be up to.

0:36:580:37:01

But the same ethos applies, it's all about, you know,

0:37:010:37:04

applying heat to great ingredients,

0:37:040:37:07

there's no rocket science behind it. It's just it's a numbers game there.

0:37:070:37:11

Ah, Pat, look at you, dressed up. Hiya, nice to see you.

0:37:190:37:22

Dressed up to the nines. Nice to meet you again.

0:37:220:37:24

So, you're in my world now. Yeah, I know.

0:37:240:37:26

Look at that. Just to let you know that I do move out of the white uniform.

0:37:260:37:31

Enjoy. Thank you very much, thank you.

0:37:310:37:34

I'm hoping they can learn from how I make the most

0:37:360:37:39

of the local Yorkshire produce.

0:37:390:37:41

I think it's important wherever you are, if you're a keen cook

0:37:410:37:44

or a chef like these guys in the kitchen,

0:37:440:37:46

to be passionate about ingredients.

0:37:460:37:48

It's getting them convinced

0:37:480:37:50

that cooking good food is what its all about.

0:37:500:37:54

Everything is, is local, isn't it?

0:37:540:37:56

It's round... Well, it's all Yorkshire anyway

0:37:560:37:59

and if not Yorkshire, it's definitely British, isn't it?

0:37:590:38:02

There's nothing imported on it at all.

0:38:020:38:04

Although we're talking about two very different price ranges,

0:38:040:38:09

there are still some tips they can pick up to use back at the hospital.

0:38:090:38:12

Like how to entice customers with simple tricks,

0:38:120:38:14

such as wording and lay-out of a menu.

0:38:140:38:17

The way it's laid out and everything, it's so easy to read.

0:38:170:38:20

A lot of the things are quite straightforward.

0:38:200:38:23

Things what they've put them with is makes them that bit special.

0:38:230:38:27

I bet you Pat's having the risotto. Bet you.

0:38:340:38:38

And I reckon Sharon has probably gone for that.

0:38:380:38:41

Right, you ready? Let's go.

0:38:410:38:43

That's lovely, thank you very much.

0:38:450:38:47

If she sends it back, then I'll be sending every bit of soup back

0:38:470:38:51

when I see it come out of a packet.

0:38:510:38:53

Looks nice, Darren.

0:38:550:38:57

She won't send it back. She'd better not send it back.

0:38:590:39:03

Oh, I can't describe the taste.

0:39:050:39:08

It's just absolutely wonderful.

0:39:080:39:11

Oh, that's a relief.

0:39:110:39:13

Look what they've done to the egg, they've taken it out the shell,

0:39:130:39:17

crumbed it, then fried it and it's still soft in the middle.

0:39:170:39:20

I'll not be doing these eggs at the hospital! Not like that.

0:39:200:39:24

That's going to be Darren's speciality.

0:39:240:39:27

Why do we do a fillet of fish? Why don't we cut it up

0:39:270:39:31

and do it like that? Yeah.

0:39:310:39:32

Three or four portions of that on your plate?

0:39:320:39:34

Like goujons. Yeah.

0:39:340:39:36

It's great to see them so motivated

0:39:360:39:39

and brimming with ideas for the hospital menus.

0:39:390:39:42

I think generally we need to do a little bit more with the flavours.

0:39:420:39:45

We've been doing the same things for so long.

0:39:450:39:47

James is coming out, giving us another perspective on it, isn't he?

0:39:470:39:51

But if they thought they were just coming for dinner,

0:39:530:39:56

they're in for a shock.

0:39:560:39:58

Darren was considering leaving catering before I started this project,

0:39:580:40:02

so I'm hoping to rekindle his passion.

0:40:020:40:04

You're over there, learn how to make risotto, off you go.

0:40:040:40:07

Stand and watch for the moment, just watch everything,

0:40:070:40:10

see how it all works.

0:40:100:40:12

OK, next main courses, boys,

0:40:120:40:14

two rump of lamb, one monkfish, one turbot.

0:40:140:40:16

Rump of lamb medium.

0:40:160:40:18

Right. Right, yeah.

0:40:220:40:23

Away, please. Main courses.

0:40:290:40:32

INAUDIBLE

0:40:320:40:34

Eh, Darren. Good lad!

0:40:380:40:42

Everybody should try food like this at least once in their life.

0:40:420:40:46

It speaks for itself, really does.

0:40:460:40:49

Ten seconds on the risotto.

0:40:490:40:51

Yeah?

0:40:530:40:55

Service, please.

0:40:550:40:56

Risotto.

0:40:580:41:00

Nice that, guys.

0:41:060:41:08

Risotto on, please.

0:41:080:41:10

All I can say is, these guys are doing a brilliant job,

0:41:100:41:12

absolutely brilliant.

0:41:120:41:14

For a lad like that, he's just a great kid, you know,

0:41:140:41:17

he's 25 years old, he just wants to cook, you know?

0:41:170:41:20

How soul-destroying it must be to go in every day,

0:41:200:41:23

which packet will I choose? What should I choose now?

0:41:230:41:27

It's just... The guy wants to cook, so let him cook.

0:41:270:41:30

Did you enjoy that? Yeah, brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

0:41:300:41:34

Right, get out of here quick

0:41:340:41:35

before you make me a permanent fixture.

0:41:350:41:38

Thanks very much, mate. See you later, guys. Thank you very much.

0:41:380:41:41

Cheers, mate, thank you.

0:41:410:41:42

Smiling.

0:41:440:41:45

I think tonight's been a bit of a success bringing them here

0:41:480:41:51

and getting a couple of guys in the kitchen

0:41:510:41:53

has really helped inspire them.

0:41:530:41:55

Thing about it is, their hard work starts tomorrow,

0:41:550:41:59

when we've got to do this for 1,000 people a day...

0:41:590:42:01

Off we go. Go.

0:42:010:42:03

Since the first dish came out,

0:42:030:42:05

we haven't stopped talking about food

0:42:050:42:07

and it's motivational for these staff to talk to me

0:42:070:42:11

the way that they've been so enthused about what they've seen tonight.

0:42:110:42:14

And if we can put some of that into our patient menus

0:42:140:42:18

then Scarborough Hospital patient food

0:42:180:42:21

is going to be on the map for life.

0:42:210:42:24

Next time: as we try to come up with a workable menu,

0:42:270:42:31

obstacles are thrown in our way.

0:42:310:42:34

It's a defrosting cabinet and instead of defrosting my fish,

0:42:340:42:37

it actually cooked it.

0:42:370:42:40

There's bad news from the Hospital Trust.

0:42:410:42:44

It's kind of made my job a whole lot harder, hasn't it, really?

0:42:440:42:48

But Pat refuses to crack under pressure.

0:42:480:42:53

We'll get there and we'll implement those menus

0:42:530:42:56

if it's the last thing that we do.

0:42:560:42:58

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