Cockroaches and vermin were found
in some hospital kitchens
Posted on 08/12/2007 5:53:07 AM PDT by yankeedame
Last Updated: Sunday, 12 August 2007, 10:10 GMT 11:10 UK
Cockroaches and vermin were found
in some hospital kitchens
Almost half of hospital kitchens and canteens in England have poor hygiene standards, a dossier has suggested.
The Liberal Democrats said inspection reports obtained under the Freedom of Information Act painted a "shocking picture" of hospital food hygiene.
Vermin, cockroaches and the storage of medical and food items together were reported by some local authorities.
The Food Standards Agency said it would expect any authority with hospital food hygiene problems to take action.
'Wrong temperatures'
The Liberal Democrats requested environmental health officers' inspection reports on hospital food preparation areas at a quarter of all English local authorities.
The papers revealed that of the 377 hospitals included, 173 - 46% - displayed poor levels of cleanliness in their kitchens or canteens and 68 did not fulfil the legal requirements for storing food.
Almost a fifth of the hospitals (66) were found to have stored food at the wrong temperature or in unsafe conditions, while 18 had out-of-date food.
"It is simply unacceptable that such terrible practices are taking place in an environment where hygiene and safety should be paramount," Norman Lamb, Liberal Democrat health spokesman
In addition, 11 hospitals had problems with vermin and 57 reported staff with poor personal hygiene - including not washing their hands.
The dossier of reports also revealed 107 hospitals did not have the correct food safety documents and 25 had poor staff training.
Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said the findings were unacceptable.
"These findings paint a shocking picture of hospital food hygiene in this country," he said.
"It is simply unacceptable that such terrible practices are taking place in an environment where hygiene and safety should be paramount."
Ratings 'needed'
Mr Lamb called for hygiene standards to be made public via individual institution ratings.
He added: "The worst performers should be named and shamed - while those doing well would stand as an example to drive up standards."
"Where there are problems we will expect the local authority to take appropriate and immediate action,"
--Food Standards Agency
The Food Standards Agency said it would be concerned about "any reports of poor hygiene standards in any catering businesses" but that hygiene was of "paramount importance" when serving food to hospital patients.
"We would be keen to see any information or report that shows significant hygiene problems and will take the matter up with the local authorities involved, whose remit is to inspect and enforce food hygiene regulations within all catering businesses," a spokesman said.
"Where there are problems we will expect the local authority to take appropriate and immediate action."
A Department of Health spokeswoman said the government expected every NHS trust to take their responsibilities for hospital food "very seriously" and that failure to meet hygiene standards was "unacceptable".
Last year, consumer group Which? also reported poor hygiene standards in some UK hospital kitchens.
Which? reviewed hygiene inspection reports for 50 hospitals and found evidence of cockroaches, mice and mouldy cooking equipment.
HillaryCare hospital food services, at your service.
Coming to you via Queen Hillary Care...
Hey, but you don’t have any out-of-pocket costs. That’s great, huh! /sarcasm
OMG, pass more laws!!
What, passing more laws to prop up a Socialist system doesn't work?! Sure it does! Just ask the leaders of the Soviet Union... oh, wait a minute.
That animation is utterly precious. Thank you!
Damn it. I bet it was Whittington Hospital in London too! ARRRRRRRRHHH!
Useful for replies to green, tree hugger, global warming types. 8^)
UK Progressive socialism is suicide.
>The papers revealed that of the 377 hospitals included, 173 - 46% - displayed poor levels of cleanliness in their kitchens or canteens and 68 did not fulfil the legal requirements for storing food.<
I cannot understand why anyone would be surprised at this. Americans have been replaced with 3rd world country employees in our kitchens and canteens.
FACT: 3rd world countries don’t have the same personal standards of cleanliness and food preservation that we do. The odd bug, or two or three in the food cabinet isn’t anything that they would be alarmed about.
And they would probably leave some food out for that odd bug or two or three because for all they know, that bug might be one of their recently departed relatives who have just been reincarnated.
Mmmmmm, free cockroaches in my jello, yipee!!!
I worked at a small hospital in Maryland in the 1980s where we could go into the main kitchen at night, turn on the lights, and watch the cockroaches scatter.
Now I work for a well-known, upscale assisted living corporation. During a staff meeting in which I had planned to discuss the problem of cockroaches crawling across my desk, I found one crawling on my leg.
I was born in an American socialized healthcare facility (A Navy hospital) where there were roaches in the patients’ rooms.
You can count on finding stories like this anytime that the profit motive is taken out of an endeavor.
No different than an other government run enterprise...if no one has ownership no one cares.
How true. LOL
Parasites would be at the head of the line, I presume.
I can think of one way to clean up the UK hospital food situation quickly and that is to establish a policy in which it will be mandatory for ALL of the kitchen staff to partake of several randomly selected meals sent up to the patients each day, and their continued employment will be contingent on them having a nice ‘healthy’ serving.
When I was in Nam I saw people who lived in thatch huts who would eat the bugs, cooked or uncooked. A cooked cockroach, no big deal.
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