‘The hospital canteen is an health food nightmare- so where is Jamie Oliver?'

It is, however, the staple vegetarian option everywhere, from the ill-considered wedding reception to the motorway service station. And while, thankfully, lasagne is not as popular as it once was, you can usually find it in the hospital canteen, loitering behind the gristle burger and peas.

In these days of food awareness one might imagine the hospital canteen to be a virtual salad bar of choice and well-being. Organic fruit plates, omega-rich oily fish and bacon sandwiches made from pigs that lived happy and fulfilling lives.

However, a recent survey of 21 hospital canteens by Which? found main meals were saturated in fat and salt, and only four canteens offered a healthy option. By healthy option here they don’t mean fewer chips and the top scraped off the trifle. And the vegetarian option tended to have lots of cheese on it. They often called it lasagne.

And I wonder what it tells us? Does it tell us that the well-being of hospital staff and visitors is not an issue for those who run or commission hospital canteens? Or might it mean people who eat in them head towards the crisps, cola and two chocolate bar snacks that so many nurses on 20-minute breaks down the years have called ‘dinner’?

Perhaps nobody has really got round to thinking about canteens yet. They have managed to franchise out a few shopping units at the front so people can buy coffee, magazines and perhaps a new tie. And they have managed to sell off bits of car park and the cleaning contracts, but canteens? As long as there are a few vending machines and something someone can call a casserole there’s nothing to worry about.

However, it does seem to be another space that modernisation forgot. If hospitals are meant to promote well-being why are they feeding staff and visitors Wagon Wheels? Why on earth isn’t Jamie Oliver bombing around on his moped demanding fresh asparagus and clementines for all? And why aren’t the staff demanding it?

Perhaps staff are uninterested, or maybe they don’t think they’ll be listened to. But I suspect canteens don’t matter as few staff have the time to go to them and others would rather save their money. Gone are the days of the subsidised canteen in most hospitals and thus gone is the custom. Maybe it doesn’t really matter, most staff will bring their own sandwiches anyway.

But not developing decent facilities for eating is a lost opportunity in so many ways.

Want to read more of Mark Radcliffe’s opinions? Just click the more by this author link at the top of the page.

'Watchdog criticises fat and salt content in hospital food' click here to read more

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