Episode 5 Operation Hospital Food with James Martin

'Over the last decade, £50 million has been spent trying

'to improve the quality of our hospital food.'

What is that? You don't know.

'So far, though, there's been little sign

'that change on a national level has been achieved.'

That's the reality of the food that's served in the NHS.

'In fact, a recent study revealed that over a third of hospital food

'is still considered unacceptable by patients.'

Just...horrible.

It's not appetising.

It was inedible, cold. It was vile.

'That's why, for the last four years, I've been working

'with NHS kitchens to prove that serving good food IS possible.'

30 seconds. Come on, come on, come on!

-You guys have made it.

-Thank you!

'Together we've demonstrated patients CAN have

'tasty, nutritious food without it costing any more money.'

What motivates me more now

is the public's perception of the good that we've done.

That means a lot.

'But it won't be feasible to bring about real change

'by tackling just one hospital at a time.'

People deserve decent food in the NHS. It's not a big ask.

'So now, my aim is to introduce a lasting improvement to

'hospital food for every patient throughout the UK.'

-Mmm, yummy!

-Yeah, it's lovely.

I'm massively passionate about food in hospitals.

Change can be achieved.

'Since I began my campaign to improve hospital food,

'I've worked with the kitchen teams

'at around a dozen hospitals right across the UK.'

-I'm trying to make it easier for you.

-I know you are.

-This was going to go in the swill.

-Wow!

I don't want to put any more pressure on you but...

the key to it is to make it continue to work.

'Some needed help with specific issues,

'others required a complete overhaul of their food service.

'Either way, through hard work and perseverance, we've managed

'to turn things around to give patients better, healthier food -

'the sort I'd like to see in every hospital.'

For hospital food, it's superb!

The food we've had here has been excellent.

I had the salad and the soup.

And both of them - delicious!

'Now I've come up with a plan to bring about uniform change

'and if even just half of all hospitals choose to act on it,

'I firmly believe we can transform the food served

'throughout the entire NHS.'

This is just the beginning of a very, very long journey.

It involves a website.

'On a site that I'll be making available to patients

'and staff of every UK hospital, I'm publishing the ideas that

'we've proved DO work and DON'T cost any more money,

'including dozens of recipes fully endorsed by top dieticians.'

The BDA says the recipes are great. That is a massive leap forward.

'To unveil it all, I'm holding an event in central London,

'to which I'm inviting trusts from up and down the country.'

Trying to do this on a national scale

is going to be harder than even I anticipated.

'All I have to do now is convince everyone who comes along to

'seize the opportunity to make things better so patients in all

'our hospitals can finally get the standard of food they deserve.'

I think massive things can come because of this.

'One new scheme I've been involved in developing, which I hope other

'hospitals will want to take up, is at Chesterfield Royal in Derbyshire.

'Head of retail Kim asked me

'to help with a food service for elderly patients who live alone,

'so that when they're discharged,

'they don't go home to an empty fridge.'

We want to provide the patient,

any elderly people who have been in hospital for some time, when they're

discharged from hospital, that they can have some kind of grocery pack.

-Yeah.

-They won't be able to go to the supermarket.

-They might not have family.

-Yeah.

So we want to see if we can provide the basics - bread, milk,

things like that, that they can be discharged with -

at a reasonable price.

Well, Kim invited me here last time to have a look at a new

project that they wanted me to get involved with.

And I think it's a fantastic project - Home Help Grocery Bags.

There's been a lot gone on, since my last visit

so I'm intrigued to know just how far we've come.

So, Kim, how's things been going?

Basically, I went away and costed it up

and then I took it to a meeting with some of the senior people.

What we found out is that people within the hospital get

discharged from one location, OK, called the discharge lounge.

So, from then, we've met the sister from the discharge lounge

and we had a meeting with her with the items of the bag

and, basically, she didn't like it!

-She didn't like it?

-No.

Just got a little list together.

There's lot on there I don't think patients are really going to manage with.

Really? I would automatically think, when you're poorly - tin of soup.

You're expecting quite elderly people to be able to open the cans.

I was looking from my... What I'd like, so I put in the bag,

-semi-skimmed milk...

-Yeah.

-..brown bread.

So when Susan looked at the list, she went,

-"Full-fat milk..."

-Yeah.

-"..white bread." I was thinking from me.

Again, but you live and learn, don't you?

It's quite interesting that the nurse here wasn't impressed

with our list that we put together.

We got dismissed! I'm used to that, to be honest, Kim.

-But now we've got a list and we've got a way forward.

-Yes.

The actual idea of it, I thought, was fantastic,

but it's a way that we can implement this properly on a larger scale.

So if it works here...

If it works here, it can work in any hospital.

'With the refinements the different teams at the hospital have

'now agreed, the bags are ready to launch.

'They'll contain essentials from the hospital shop at the same

'price as they'd be from the supermarket,

'but without the hassle of trying to get there.

'That could make a real difference to someone not up to full strength

'or with ready access to transport or help at home.'

You need basic food items, like you say,

just to make a cup of tea and a sandwich, slice of toast.

'Kim's also brought into the scheme the local British Red Cross, who've

'been operating a smaller-scale idea but with very limited resources.

'By collaborating on this initiative,

'we can make sure it works much more effectively.

'So before we meet the first patient to be issued with one of our bags,

'Kim and I catch up with the hospital's discharge sister, Susan,

'and Chris from the British Red Cross.'

You recommend bread, milk - just the basics, really?

Yeah, from asking the patients and obviously writing lists with them

and with Chris from the Red Cross, we do see that patients mainly want

milk to make a cup of tea, and some bread and little portions of butter, that we can supply,

and cheese, just to make a sandwich and something basic.

How do you guys find it?

Because it's quite a nerve-racking time for elderly patients to leave

-hospital and to be independent again.

-It might be the first time

they've seen their house for a number of weeks or even months

and it's very, very frightening. And just being able to give them

that opportunity so they can sit down and then hopefully,

over the next 24 hours or so, they can get their feet under the table and everything calms down.

And sometimes, if they think they're not sure what's going on,

they'll bring them straight back into hospital.

-So we're trying to break that cycle.

-They come back?

-Yeah.

That's the first time I've heard this -

that they are coming back again.

-Yeah, we do have what we call our frequent flyers.

-Frequent flyers!

Patients that are perhaps being discharged

once, if not twice, in the same week on a week-in, week-out basis

and we do sometimes wonder, if we were offering just a tiny bit more support -

especially with a voluntary service like the Red Cross - whether it might just prevent them

re-attending hospital quite so quickly.

This is a fantastic thing. You get the feeling,

why hasn't it been rolled out across the NHS as a whole?

'Providing elderly patients with some basic essentials

'as they adjust to being back at home is one of those

'ideas that seems obvious as soon as you hear it.

'But, until I came here, I hadn't really considered that

'hospital catering doesn't need to end on the wards.

'An added bonus is that, because all the items in the bag are staples

'usually available within any hospital catering department,

'it should be straightforward for other places to adopt the idea.

'But to see how it works in practice I'm going to

'follow 86-year-old Elizabeth as she's discharged from hospital.

'She's the first patient who'll be taking home

'one of the hospital's bags.'

-Elizabeth, nice to meet you. You all right?

-Yeah.

32 days, have you been in?

-Yes, I've been in a long time. Had a pacemaker...

-Have you?

-..fitted.

-It's working, though!

-It is working.

And how are you feeling? You all right?

I'll get right when I get home.

You looking forward to it?

I am and I'm not. I'm frightened, really, you know?

What's frightening you?

Well, staying there on my own. Just me and t'cat.

You've gone and got some things from this bag.

This is going to be a bit of help for you as well,

-I suppose, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Oh, it is now.

-This gives you a little bit of a head start, anyway.

-Yeah.

-Eh?

-Yeah.

-I'm going to come home with you, as well.

-Yeah. Are you?

-I think so, yeah. So have you got a kettle, some coffee?

-Yeah.

-Good.

-I don't know what t'house is like, whether it needs cleaning!

Well, we'll clean it. I'm pretty good. I'm pretty good at cleaning.

-I can clean an oven really well.

-All right, then.

-Shall we get you home?

-Yeah, please.

This is a story right across the NHS on a daily basis.

It shows how important this idea could be and how many people

it could benefit, because, you know,

it's all very well, she's got support here

and everything, but she's worried about what she's taking as well,

what tablets she's got to take, and worrying about the food,

worrying about her cat, worrying about her heating.

It's just eye-opening.

'Chesterfield Royal says that as many as 246 elderly patients a year

'are continually readmitted,

'costing the hospital over £3.5 million annually.

'With this service and with the support of organisations

'like the British Red Cross,

'they hope to drastically reduce this number.

'It seems so simple but most elderly patients just need a little extra care

'and some basic supplies to get them through the early stages of going home.'

So you guys make sure they're comfortable?

Yeah. This is where we step in now.

We'll start visiting Liz for anything up to a month

just to make sure she's going to be OK.

We want to make sure Liz doesn't bounce back into hospital.

And we've got to make sure she can stay at home

and stay at home in a safe manner as well.

You can tell from Elizabeth's health, really, that she can't

really get out and about for at least a week or two yet

so anything that can be done to help

make her transition a lot easier is a huge bonus.

Better get the kettle on, hadn't I, really?

Right, Elizabeth. Anybody'd think you like cats!

THEY CHUCKLE

-So how does it feel to be home?

-Lovely.

-Yeah?

-I'm just...

Yeah, it is lovely.

This benefits you so much, doesn't it? You wanted a cup of tea -

-there was no milk in your fridge normally.

-No.

-To get milk like that must help you a lot?

-Yeah.

Well, thank you for letting me be a part of your life.

Only for a small amount of time, but thank you very much.

-I've enjoyed it.

-It's been fantastic.

-Lovely. Come again.

Out of all the places I've had to visit,

this is probably the least amount of work I've had to do.

And that's thanks to Kim.

She's been the figurehead of leading this forward.

You can see what's going to happen.

When somebody like Elizabeth goes home, the door closes,

you become lonely, anything can happen, so you pick up the phone,

you phone 999 and you're back in hospital again.

It costs the NHS even more money.

And I think the added benefit,

the added support you can give them once they leave hospital,

is a huge ask, but the benefits way outweigh the negatives, in my opinion.

'Great ideas such as this deserve a bigger audience.

'Sharing initiatives like this is exactly the point

'of my website and of the big event I'm organising to launch it.

'So I have a favour to ask Kim before I leave.'

I'm putting together about 150 people -

the great and the good of the NHS.

I'd love you to stand up on a lectern and say,

just for a few minutes, about the experiences that you've had

and just tell a wider audience.

-Would that be possible?

-Absolutely. Of course it would. Absolutely.

'It's great that Kim has agreed to take part in the event.

'Obviously, I can talk about the successes we've achieved

'but it'll be much more effective

'if the people who come hear what's possible directly from their peers.

'Before that, though, it's back to another hospital I've been

'working closely with - the Princess Alexandra in Harlow, Essex.

'Its catering department has been running at a £19,000 loss,

'putting their jobs at risk.'

You know that, any point in time, all of you could lose your jobs.

Which is frightening. Frightening.

I'm clear that if we make it profitable

then we can put some of that money back into patient food.

'By introducing new, more broadly appealing recipes,

'it's hoped we can push up profits in the restaurant.'

The Moroccan salad is just something different.

It makes a change from the usual salads that we have.

'And streamlining the operation by switching from a two-week

'menu cycle to one-week should make it more cost effective.'

I want to get rid of one week.

The look on your face!

'The whole team has embraced the changes I've suggested to try

'and turn things around but one man has particularly impressed me -

'senior catering manager Andy Slade.

'He's been instrumental in implementing my ideas

'and he's massively respected by everyone in the hospital.'

He listens to you. He will. If he can help on anything, he's good.

I've known him help a lot of lads in here.

He's very caring. He comes across that he's not, but he is.

He's a very caring gentlemen.

He's almost like a father figure really.

He really does look after us.

I think this is what he considers part of his family.

You know, I really do think it is.

If you cut him, he'd bleed NHS.

'After working at the hospital for 26 years, Andy is retiring

'in a few months, and there's no doubt he'll be missed.'

It's hard, really, I suppose, to talk about going

because I get a big buzz out of doing what I do.

You're only as good as your team, I think, at the end of the day,

and I've got a very good team here.

We all work well together, really.

We are a team and, the way I look at it,

I'm just a cog in a wheel, at the end of the day.

We're all cogs in wheels and we make that big wheel go round

and that's the important part of it.

'But I think Andy's underselling what he's achieved here in Harlow,

'and the trust agrees.

'So, to mark all his hard work,

'we've arranged a little surprise for him.'

Can we get all you guys in front of there? That's it.

'The restaurant is at the heart of the hospital

'and today it's being renamed in Andy's honour,

'so that all his years of service will never be forgotten.'

Oh, sorry.

'But I'm not sure how this shy gent will react

'to such a very public show of affection.'

-What's this, a guard of honour?

-Yeah. It looks like it.

Hello.

APPLAUSE

I said, "She's stitched me up!"

LAUGHTER

This is a little something that I wanted to put together

because you've been here since what, 1987?

Round about then.

And you were kind enough, after all those years, to even invite me

here to give you a hand as well.

Now, what's the name of the restaurant?

It's basically called the Alexandra restaurant.

-Not any more, boss.

-Oh, isn't it? Not really.

Because we're going to rename it.

APPLAUSE

Your name will still be here long after you've gone.

I can't believe that.

I can't believe I'm going to be named after a restaurant.

I think he was more shocked than anything else.

But it's a lovely tribute to him. It's well deserved.

He's been here 26 years. He deserves it.

It's fantastic. Brilliant.

Look after yourself. And you. I haven't gone yet!

I think he was pleased with it. Yeah, I think he's... It's nice.

Great. Great bloke.

One of the best managers I've ever worked for.

Should have done that 20 years ago!

LAUGHTER

APPLAUSE

I think stuff like that is so important

because, you know, what do you give him?

What can you give him for that much service?

And I think something like that will certainly live with him

for the rest of his life.

'But before I leave, it's back to business

'and I grab Andy and Jonathan

'to talk about what still needs to be done if they're

'to convince chief exec Melanie that the department should be saved.'

Now, with this and together with all the new dishes and bits and pieces

and the stuff that we've developed,

we've got a month, obviously, before we present this back to Melanie

-so it would be good to get some facts and figures.

-Yeah.

Over the period of the next four weeks, it'll stabilise down

and we can then present our case to her.

Then hopefully we'll get rid of this damn cloud over our heads.

Well, we've done as much as I can

in the space of time that we've had, really.

It's not the easiest thing to resolve,

but if we can get cold, hard facts and figures

about profit and loss then it goes a long way to it.

I'm hoping to see revenue increase. That's what I'd really like to see.

I want to see more people come to the restaurant that wouldn't normally come through.

By the end of the month,

I'm hopeful that we're going to get the fine tuning complete

on the patient menu and that will be cemented then and just roll forward.

At the end of the day, we're all working together to sort of say,

"OK, what have we got to do to get it right?"

'My work at Harlow is now over

'and it's up to the team to push forward the ideas I've introduced.

'They only have four weeks before they need to present their new figures to Melanie.

'Hopefully then we'll know if what we've done is enough to save the team's jobs.

'Andy and Jonathan from Harlow were two of the chefs that

'came along to the cookery school I held at my house a few weeks ago.'

It's not like school.

You can actually sit at the front if you want!

'20 chefs and catering managers from across the country

'listened to my ideas and thoughts on how to improve the food

'they serve to patients.'

This is a huge, huge step forward.

'My goal was to transform things on a much bigger scale.

'And some of those who attended

'have already started to roll out my changes.'

Over a month has passed since we gave an open invitation to the NHS.

Over 20 people arrived at my house with

a view of doing sort of like a cook school.

The good news is we're up in Lancaster

to visit a chef who's taken that advice on board and is trying to

roll out what we've achieved so far in other hospitals around Britain.

'Andy Bickle is the head chef at Furness General, part of

'a trust with three hospitals across Lancashire and the Lake District.

'After seeing a tweet I posted about the cookery school,

'he responded and made the 600-mile round trip to find out more.'

James has got some really good ideas.

I really think keeping in-house catering is the way forward

so I think I'll take his recipes away, take them back

and obviously get the staff in and see what they think.

'I was encouraged by Andy's enthusiasm at the cookery school

'so now I'm interested in seeing what he's managed to implement back at his hospital.'

Good to see you again. How did you find the day?

Really good. Yeah. Really informative.

Took quite a lot out of it.

You know, cutting back on waste, using fresh ingredients,

which we already do, but the importance of why we do it.

Leaving that place and leaving there, what have you implemented?

Yeah, we went back and spoke to my manager, obviously

explained to her what happened throughout the day.

I spoke with the chefs, we did some demonstrations of the food

that you did on the day, also some other recipes, and we've looked

now at implementing your recipes within to the patients' menus.

You're one of the people who have actually taken this on board quite substantially

and you're basically travelling around each hospital.

Is that the idea of it?

Yeah, we have three different sites within this trust.

There's Furness General, where I work.

This is Royal Lancaster Infirmary and then there's Kendal as well.

So I've come to Lancaster to tell the chefs what's going on with you,

what we've took away from the day and what we want to implement here.

And then tomorrow I'm off to Kendal to do exactly the same again.

'Next, Andy gathers the team together to sample some of my suggested recipes.'

Right, so we've got the roast shoulder of pork with apple sauce,

which we produced this morning from your recipe book.

Beef and mushroom pie

and the Mediterranean vegetable gratin with mature Cheddar cheese.

I've come this morning obviously to work with Lee

and Lee's worked with us on all these recipes.

How did you find it?

Simple. Very easy, yes.

-It worked out all right for you?

-Yeah. Yeah.

-Yeah. And doable?

Yeah, easily doable.

-It's really good, this.

-It's nice, isn't it?

-That's really nice.

-It's all right, isn't it?

-Simple but effective.

-Yeah.

And cost-wise, all these are in for you as well?

-Yeah.

-They all work out.

I think they're working out under 80p per portion.

-So well in, well in?

-Yeah.

'Making all the recipes work to tight hospital budgets was key when I devised the dishes -

'something that Andy quickly picks up on.'

-Butternut squash soup - 13p a portion.

-13p a portion?

Yeah, it's nothing.

Cauliflower and apple - 11p.

So, for all the recipes you've given us, working it out for how many we supply,

that's how much it's going to cost per portion on each thing.

9p - leek and potato soup.

-Not bad, is it?

-Pretty good.

-9p?

-Yeah. It's nothing.

'But if I thought I was going to get away without doing any work myself, I was sadly mistaken.'

-Which one do you want first?

-I need stock as well.

Have you got a paddle?

Beautiful.

That's for you, Chef.

Round two.

-Obviously this one's better cos I made this one.

-Easy now!

-Nice, eh?

-Oh, that's nice.

'Before I made the call to NHS chefs to help with this campaign,

'I'd only been able to effect change in hospitals I'd visited personally.

'Now, thanks to them, the roll-out is happening across the country.'

-Andy, amazing job today.

-Cheers. Thank you.

-Fantastic.

-And I want to thank you as well because...

-Cheers, mate.

I want to thank you for coming down to the house

because I genuinely thought I'd be stood there on my own.

But I want to thank you for pushing this forward.

It's good to have you on-side.

It's that somebody with a bit of a profile can take interest

in what we're doing and appreciate the importance of in-house catering,

-freshly cooked and fresh ingredients.

-Fantastic.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-It's been a pleasure.

Top man.

It's been an incredible success, really,

that initial response to the cook school.

I never thought, literally when 20 of them would arrive,

we'd get to the situation now where I'm travelling all around the UK,

looking at what has happened since then.

'There's been times when I wasn't really getting anywhere.

'You know, you were hitting a brick wall all the time

'and I think this has given me,'

and certainly given the project, a new lease of life, really.

And big things can happen

when a group of people start to communicate with each other.

'And Morecambe Bay isn't the only trust to have taken something

'away from my cookery school.

'At the opposite end of the country, in both Dorchester

'and Southampton, some of the other catering managers who

'came along have started rolling out my ideas.

'But this is just the start.

'There are over 2,000 hospitals within the UK

'and I don't want anybody to feel left out.

'So it's the next stage that feels like the biggest opportunity yet

'to make a difference nationwide.'

To implement change on a larger scale, it's communication.

And now with, obviously, social media, Twitter and websites,

I thought, "What better way to put together a website where anybody,

"from a chef to a kitchen porter to a head of a trust, can go online,

"access all that information that we've learnt

"over those 3½ years, put all of that information together

"and make it accessible to all?"

'My website is now more than just an idea -

'it's ready to unveil at my launch event.'

Test, one, two.

'But this is more than just a website -

'it's a central resource tool that provides answers to the problems

'that have prevented progress in improving hospital food over the decades.

'In the absence of mandatory national nutritional standards in England,

'this will enable trusts to access advice and guidance on how this

'business model can work for them.

'I've also included versions of my recipes that you can make at home,

'as these aren't just meals for the poorly - they're examples of how to

'eat nutritionally balanced food on a budget.

'There's also stacks

'of other information any hospital can tap into.

'So I've invited trusts from across the UK to come

'to the Royal College of Nursing in London to find out more.

'And, as the day arrives, I'm excited about

'getting the message out to as many hospitals as will listen.'

People deserve decent food in the NHS.

We pay a lot of money, us lot, everybody - everybody here today

pays a lot of money to be able to have decent food.

It's not a big ask.

'Though I'm confident about the message,

'the prospect of talking to so many people in such a prestigious venue

'is pretty daunting.'

The first thing you realise

when you walk in here is the size of the place. It's massive.

And this is a pretty impressive room, really.

This is where everybody's going to come and have drinks beforehand.

This is now starting to make me a bit nervous, to be honest.

It's the first time ever - ever - I've got a speech written down.

And I'm dyslexic. This'll go down really well, won't it?

We anticipate literally

all 120-odd people are going to turn up and take part.

Just to get that amount of people here is a huge, huge ask.

It's going to be good, though, isn't it?

'In a matter of hours, people will start arriving

'so it's crucial that everything runs smoothly.

'With the stakes so high, I don't want to leave anything to chance.'

For us to have 50 trusts, the bosses of 50 trusts here today,

you think of what change that can do if those 50 people take

even 10, 15% of what we talked about today on board, to go back to their

hospitals, how many people that is going to benefit on a daily basis.

I think getting those people together in one room to

discuss food for the afternoon -

big things are going to come out of today, I guarantee it.

'But I'm not doing this alone. Friends old and new who've

'helped me throughout my campaign are here to champion the cause.'

Good to see you. Oh, they're all here. You all right?

'Everyone has kindly agreed to come and help me

'convince other hospitals that this is the way forward.'

This is where they're all going to come in first of all.

There's about 130. We've got nearly 56 NHS trusts coming,

so it's quite a big one today.

'I'm hoping that once they've heard testimonies from their peers

'that, despite decades of failed initiatives, change is possible,

'they'll pick up the baton

'and roll out new systems in their own hospitals.'

I'll bring each one individually on stage

to do your little five-minute turn, if that's OK. All happy with that?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

'I realise I'm asking a lot of these people and each of them

'has already done so much to help me improve hospital food.'

I just wanted to say, "Thank you all for coming."

I know it's a big ask getting you guys up on this lectern and talking

but this is something I feel massively passionate about.

Without your help and your support,

we couldn't have pushed this to a level to where we are now.

This was in my wildest dreams when I started this four years ago.

Never thought I'd be doing this.

I'm as nervous as you are

but I just want to say, enjoy it, embrace it

and thank you for all your support because this is fantastic

and I cannot tell you how much I really, really thank you.

We'll follow you, then.

It's filling up.

'As the rest of the guests start to arrive,

'the enormity of the event really starts to kick in.'

-Operation Hospital Food.

-Thank you. Just join the queue.

'Now I'm having to speak in public, I'm really, really nervous.'

Big time nervous. Not a little bit. Big.

You always get a bit nervous, don't you? But, I mean, if you

didn't get nervous, I don't think you'd be normal.

'The room's starting to fill up

'and people seem very clear on what they want to get out of the day.'

Hopefully we can get some innovation around some of the ideas,

we can only aim to get better and better in terms of what

we deliver as services to our patients, really.

My main hope for today is to get some new ideas of how we can improve

the menu and the way that we serve food.

Picking his brains, really, is the whole aim of the day.

If we can put even

a couple of things into practice to make

it better for patients, then that's got to be a good thing.

OK, ladies and gents, we have a full house.

Let's go for it. Follow me.

I'm probably feeling as about as nervous as they are, to be honest.

I've got my script. I don't do scripts.

So...proper nervous, but here goes.

'Well, all the preparation is done. I know my ideas work

'so now I just have to convince the room

'that their hospitals should take them on board.'

Thank you very much. To be honest, I've been quite lucky -

I've never been into hospital.

But one thing I did remember from my childhood -

the one person that was a huge inspiration on me as a young kid

was my grandmother.

What she had to suffer in hospital was probably one of the most

traumatic things, I think, any young kid wants to see, really.

For somebody who, literally, was

so passionate with food, get given the food she was given -

to really see that really struck a nerve

and, from there, the idea of it started.

The key to it all working

was that we serve better food at the end of it,

it doesn't cost the taxpayer any more money,

it doesn't cost the hospital any more money

and we work with the parameters of what they've got.

'An issue I've come across in the past is that some hospitals

'refuse to accept they could do things better.

'But while obviously there are those who get it right,

'there are plenty who don't,

'so to illustrate the problem throughout the NHS, I've brought

'along a few pictures of what the reality for some patients can be.'

I asked the general public at large to send in pictures, e-mails,

thoughts on the food currently served in the NHS.

This will probably shock you.

That's one. It gets worse.

This was actually served to a patient, buttered with the mould on.

AUDIENCE MURMURS

So that was quite a big shocking thing for me

and, I think, a shocking thing for you guys.

And it goes to prove we can all do better right across the board.

'That got their attention!

'So it's time to hear from the hospitals I've already helped

'to show what can be done.'

I was very sceptical, very apprehensive, when the idea was

put forward to me about opening the doors

to a professional celebrity chef.

I thought, "All I need now is for somebody to come in and tell me

"that, for the last 40 years, I've probably got it all wrong."

However, when James actually came in to our department,

straightaway he fitted into the team.

I mean, he was part of the team.

It's fairly easy to actually implement.

We found it fairly simple to actually do.

So thanks ever so much for all your help, James. Thank you very much.

Cheers, Andy. As I said, happy retirement, buddy. You deserve it.

'Next on the stage are Kim from the Chesterfield Royal

'and Stephen from the Royal Oldham,

'where I was asked to come up with recipes for the children's menu.'

We had to look at specifics for our children's menu and

they preferred simple dishes like pizzas, burgers, chicken nuggets.

The idea we had was to give patients

who stayed in hospital for a long period of time

the chance to take home some basic food essentials so they could

feed themselves from the moment they walked through their front door.

James, together working with the chefs, prepared these dishes

out of simple recipes using fresh basic ingredients.

They travelled well and they were simple to use.

'There's support, too, from plenty of others who've helped out along the way.'

The hospital couldn't pass up the opportunity to be

a part of this nationwide campaign to improve hospital food.

The food trolley is just as important as the drug trolley.

If you use the sorts of talents that people like James have,

what you can do

is produce appetizing, interesting, nourishing food.

'By working together with all these hospitals

'and organisations, we've been able to make things better

'for the people who really matter in all of this - the patients.'

I think the food's excellent.

-Absolutely delicious.

-It was gorgeous.

The food - it's been very, very nice. No complaints whatsoever.

I said to the physiotherapist,

"Any chance of staying another week?"

'But I want patients in every UK hospital to experience better food

'and, now it's clear how these ideas have already worked,

'the moment's arrived to explain

'how trusts everywhere can start using them too.'

So we've created a website that we've developed with the hospitals.

This is going to be accessible for all.

The main aim is to create an easy-to-use site where people can

just dip in and out of whenever they want.

But it really covers everything,

from my thoughts of hospital catering,

key issues and challenges surrounding local procurement,

everything you need to do to maximise the turnover of the restaurant.

There are enough recipes on here to put together a full weekly menu.

There's really no downside to this,

so I hope that every single hospital,

I hope that every single trust here, takes a little bit of that advice

away to improve hospital food for the better. Thank you very much.

'So, the idea's finally out there.

'I just hope this template will convince everyone in the room

'that improving their food will benefit not just them but,

'more importantly, their patients.

'While they all take a break to discuss what they've heard,

'I grab Andy to find out the latest from the Princess Alexandra

'and discover the verdict from his CEO, Melanie.

'When I first arrived at the hospital, their kitchens were under

threat of being shut down because their budget was firmly in the red.'

It's very tight and, at the moment, I'm overspending.

'As well as cutting down the number of dishes

'by switching to a weekly menu,

'I introduced new initiatives to raise more revenue

'from the on-site restaurant...

'..the idea being not just to get them back in the black,

'but to generate resources

'that can be put back into further improvements.'

I had the soup and I thought it was absolutely yummy. Really scrummy.

'So, a month after my last visit,

'has it been enough to turn things around?'

-So, Melanie, how's it going anyway?

-It's been brilliant.

It's caused a great deal of excitement in the hospital,

which, I think, has energized.

In terms of the restaurant, staff are really enjoying the new choices.

We reckon we'll have turned that loss by the end of the year

and probably be in surplus for next year if it carries on at that rate.

Which is amazing, isn't it? What was it, about 17 grand?

To turn that around in three months and then you're going to be...

And a full year of that would be £46,000.

-46 grand profit?

-Yeah.

-If it keeps going at that level.

-Pretty good, that.

But, as I say, if we can turn things around, make a bit more profit,

perhaps we can plough a little bit of that back into the restaurant

and hopefully that may even increase income even more.

To turn that deficit around from a 17-grand loss to

a, potentially 46, 50-grand profit, it's fantastic news for you as well.

It takes a lot of pressure off the decision you're having to make -

it eases a little bit.

Yeah, no. Absolutely.

So, as we're going, it's a steady up climb, but things are looking good?

Yeah, no, brilliant.

I'm just so pleased I was able to come in and give you a hand

cos I think what you do is amazing.

'I'm really proud of what we've managed to achieve at Harlow

'and I'm hoping that that the changes we've made go a long way

'in securing the catering team's jobs for the foreseeable future.'

How cool is that? Brilliant.

What is amazing about this

is to have a situation like we were put in,

where you have that cloud over their head and to turn it round

from a 17-grand loss to a potential 50-grand profit - it's brilliant.

Just brilliant.

'Also among today's guests is head of facilities from a hospital

'I spent a lot of time at last year -

'the Royal Orthopaedic in Birmingham.

'I invited Emma to come along to share her experiences with

'the representatives from other trusts

'and she's got a great story to tell.'

Now, you've got some news from Birmingham?

So what's been happening there?

We've gone from strength to strength.

Since you've left, we've really taken everything that you've done.

Obviously the biggest thing was waste.

-We are 10% on a bad day now.

-Really?

And we can drop it lower. It depends on the patient turnaround.

So that's made a significant difference to the budget.

So that pile of food we saw the very, very first week,

-that's no longer there?

-It's gone. It's gone. It does not happen.

One of the other things is the restaurant is doing incredibly well,

the baguettes are still flying out and we are now taking an extra 32%.

-32% up?

-32% up.

You've got a new lease of life.

We have and the entire team have.

That's great news. I'll leave you to mingle.

-Thanks for coming.

-No worries.

-Great success for them. Brilliant!

'It's great to hear that there have been such long-term benefits

'and that the team is so successfully moving things forward.

'And, of course, the whole point of the website and the event today

'is that every hospital can have a taste of that, too.'

Anybody else?

'But as us chefs say, the proof's in the pudding.

'So, before everyone goes home, they sample some of the recipes

'they could soon be serving patients in their own hospitals.'

Toffee pudding, anybody?

'And it's a chance to see how many plan to take up my ideas.'

The thing for me was the take-home packs for people

who are leaving hospital. I think that's a really great idea.

I've jotted down some ideas to take back that we can use

really fairly quickly if we put our mind to it and focus on it.

We currently use a two-week menu, which we find works quite well,

but we will review that in light of James's comments.

We found the presentation this afternoon really interesting

and there's already three or four ideas what we've jotted down today

that we'll be looking to implement in the next two or three weeks.

I absolutely defy anyone

to have walked out of that room

and not feel fired up to do something different,

so I thought it was well worth the visit up.

I believe today is the start of the journey for change

and James has made that happen and I don't think

he should underestimate what he's actually done.

'From now, every hospital can easily find the tools

'and the recipes that can help them improve their catering.

'And while, in many ways, that's just the start,

'it also feels like the end of what I'd hoped to achieve.'

These guys in this room can change a huge part of the picture.

But as from today, there's not a lot more I can do.

The website was actually a thought I had over a pint.

I was thinking, "How the hell can you get this out to everybody?"

And the website will go a long way to progressing this forward.

So it's kind of a win-win, really,

whereas there's nothing else really like that out there,

so there is really no more excuses.

We've done the hard work,

we've done the groundwork, we've put everything out there -

it's up to them whether they take it forward now.

'For me, this has always been more than simply a TV series.'

This is my 20th year doing the media sort of side of it and this is

the one thing I've done in my career that actually makes a difference.

High-five!

'Everyone I've met along the way has made it possible

'to get to this point

'and I'm so proud of what we've been able to achieve.'

It's definitely been the hardest thing I've ever done.

Four years down the line, you have a room full of 120 people

that are going to go away and make a difference and put stuff that

you've implemented on menus right across the country.

That's pretty cool, that, isn't it?

Well, the website is now live.

Log on to it and make a difference, please, at...