Colleagues and visitors to HRI were treated to a free lunch this week, when Appetito, our food partner for more than 12 years set up a servery with HRI’s catering team in the entrance to the hospital.

Mouths were watering as the trolleys were set up and, at its peak, the queues to test were almost Black Friday-esque!

Phlebotomists Rose Fisher, Bobby-Lee Ryan and Shirley Young (pictured) particularly enjoyed the curried parsnip soup – just one of a number made fresh daily on site at HRI.

Shirley said: “We don’t normally get to see the lunches that patients are served, and I have to say we’re really impressed”.

And the Quality Team were on hand with their feedback sheets (naturally!) to give their opinion. Team members Joanne Fairclough, Jane Greenwood, Angela Davies and Gill Clarey (see attachment at top of story) were blown away by the quality and taste of the food.

Jane said “It’s lovely – much better than mine. If I was in hospital on Christmas Day I’d be thrilled to bits to have this lunch. In fact I might come in just for that!”

Assistant Manager for Catering Adrian Brown said the food tasting session was very much about the partnership working with Appetito.

“I just wanted to give a flavour (no pun intended) of what we offer every day here, not just Christmas. We provide more than a quarter of a million meals a year at HRI. Nutritious food plays an important role in helping patients recover, so we have to try and get it right as much as we can.

“That’s why we always listen to what people tell us, working with Appetito and the Dietetics Team where we need to, to make sure we are constantly improving where we can.

“And we’re always happy to come and talk to those patients who may need something over and above what we already provide to patients”.

Feedback sheets were completed by the tasters – here are some of the comments received:

• Very good, excellent would be happy to receive this meal for my Christmas lunch, Book me in.
• Wonderful idea lucky patients.
• Better than my Christmas dinner.