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It might not be the next Beckta, but the Queensway Carleton Hospital is proving that hospital food doesn’t have to taste like hospital food.
“I’d rather eat here than at the Château Laurier,” says patient Dan Slatter, 67, who was admitted to the Queensway Carleton on July 8 for the second time this year.
“It tastes great. You can order what you want. They say that hospital food isn’t very good, but this place is the exception to the rule.”
Six years ago, the Queensway Carleton decided to revamp its food service, updating a 20-year-old menu in consultation with chefs who offered tips on nutrition, plating and presentation. Its Simply Outstanding Hospital Food Initiative — SOHFI — was launched in 2011 and drew immediate praise from patients and staff.
When this paper wrote this week about The Ottawa Hospital conceding its food was terrible and vowing to do better, a number of readers cited the Queensway Carleton for its good food.
“I really liked the food at the QCH,” wrote one reader. “I felt it was balanced and plentiful, and though it was no restaurant gourmet meal, I really had no complaints.”
“I actually enjoyed all my meals at the QCH after a three day stint for c section!” wrote another. “Seemed well prepared and well thought out for my condition and needs.”
Slatter’s lunch on Tuesday was a sandwich of shaved turkey — roasted in the hospital’s own kitchen — on marbled bread with lettuce and Dijon mustard; a salad of spinach, butter lettuce, dandelion leaves and julienned carrots; tomato soup; milk, tea and cranberry juice; chocolate pudding and a heaping cup of ripe, juicy raspberries that the hospital assured wasn’t just put on as show for the newspaper.
The old: A typical lunch from the Queensway Carleton Hospital kitchen before it revamped its food service in 2012.
“There’s just such happiness when you serve the food,” said Rose Bann, a food service aid at the QCH who remembers the old days of cellophane-wrapped egg salad sandwiches on white bread.
“Before, you’d just put the tray down and back away quickly,” she said. “It wasn’t that the food was bad, it just didn’t look as nice.”
Food service manager Caralan Dams is the person who oversaw SOHFI, and says she’s fielded questions from hospitals across Canada about the program. She said patient satisfaction exceeds 90 per cent, as measured by surveys done by the Ministry of Health, feedback from patients and regular patient interviews the hospital does on its own.
This fall, the hospital expects to roll out a new program in which family members can order their own meals so that they can eat alongside their loved one, rather than have to find their own meals at the hospital’s Tim Hortons.
“We do appreciate the fact that it can be difficult for a patient to eat,” Dams said. “By this fall, we’ll have a means to serve meals to family caregivers who are there with the patient. It encourages them to be there with the patient at mealtime and there’s lots of research that shows if you eat with someone, you’re more likely to consume the meals.”
The new: A shaved turkey sandwich, a salad of European greens, soup and fresh raspberries, served on china with real cutlery.
Dams’ favourite menu items? Roast beef with yorkshire pudding and horse-radish, and roast turkey with mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. The hospital sources food locally when it can. Last week, it bought berries from the farm across Carling Avenue from the hospital, washed them in the morning and served them at lunch.
Clinical diet technicians work closely with patients to find out what foods they like or don’t like, give advice on food allergies and ensure they’re getting a balanced meal. Servers note what food is left on the plate to fine tune serving sizes and reduce waste. They’ll even trim the crusts off the bread if that’s what the patient wants.
SOHFI meant the hospital had to spend more for food preparation staff, but that’s been offset by other cost savings, said Carolyn Brennan, the hospital’s chief financial officer and vice-president of corporate services.
“What ends up costing a little bit more on the staffing side is offset by the reduced waste,” Brennan said. “If the food isn’t being eaten, we’re still buying it, then throwing it out.”
bcrawford@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/getBAC
Related
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“I’d rather eat here than at the Château Laurier,” says patient Dan Slatter, 67, who was admitted to the Queensway Carleton on July 8 for the second time this year.
“It tastes great. You can order what you want. They say that hospital food isn’t very good, but this place is the exception to the rule.”
Six years ago, the Queensway Carleton decided to revamp its food service, updating a 20-year-old menu in consultation with chefs who offered tips on nutrition, plating and presentation. Its Simply Outstanding Hospital Food Initiative — SOHFI — was launched in 2011 and drew immediate praise from patients and staff.
When this paper wrote this week about The Ottawa Hospital conceding its food was terrible and vowing to do better, a number of readers cited the Queensway Carleton for its good food.
“I really liked the food at the QCH,” wrote one reader. “I felt it was balanced and plentiful, and though it was no restaurant gourmet meal, I really had no complaints.”
“I actually enjoyed all my meals at the QCH after a three day stint for c section!” wrote another. “Seemed well prepared and well thought out for my condition and needs.”
Slatter’s lunch on Tuesday was a sandwich of shaved turkey — roasted in the hospital’s own kitchen — on marbled bread with lettuce and Dijon mustard; a salad of spinach, butter lettuce, dandelion leaves and julienned carrots; tomato soup; milk, tea and cranberry juice; chocolate pudding and a heaping cup of ripe, juicy raspberries that the hospital assured wasn’t just put on as show for the newspaper.
The old: A typical lunch from the Queensway Carleton Hospital kitchen before it revamped its food service in 2012.
“There’s just such happiness when you serve the food,” said Rose Bann, a food service aid at the QCH who remembers the old days of cellophane-wrapped egg salad sandwiches on white bread.
“Before, you’d just put the tray down and back away quickly,” she said. “It wasn’t that the food was bad, it just didn’t look as nice.”
Food service manager Caralan Dams is the person who oversaw SOHFI, and says she’s fielded questions from hospitals across Canada about the program. She said patient satisfaction exceeds 90 per cent, as measured by surveys done by the Ministry of Health, feedback from patients and regular patient interviews the hospital does on its own.
This fall, the hospital expects to roll out a new program in which family members can order their own meals so that they can eat alongside their loved one, rather than have to find their own meals at the hospital’s Tim Hortons.
“We do appreciate the fact that it can be difficult for a patient to eat,” Dams said. “By this fall, we’ll have a means to serve meals to family caregivers who are there with the patient. It encourages them to be there with the patient at mealtime and there’s lots of research that shows if you eat with someone, you’re more likely to consume the meals.”
The new: A shaved turkey sandwich, a salad of European greens, soup and fresh raspberries, served on china with real cutlery.
Dams’ favourite menu items? Roast beef with yorkshire pudding and horse-radish, and roast turkey with mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. The hospital sources food locally when it can. Last week, it bought berries from the farm across Carling Avenue from the hospital, washed them in the morning and served them at lunch.
Clinical diet technicians work closely with patients to find out what foods they like or don’t like, give advice on food allergies and ensure they’re getting a balanced meal. Servers note what food is left on the plate to fine tune serving sizes and reduce waste. They’ll even trim the crusts off the bread if that’s what the patient wants.
SOHFI meant the hospital had to spend more for food preparation staff, but that’s been offset by other cost savings, said Carolyn Brennan, the hospital’s chief financial officer and vice-president of corporate services.
“What ends up costing a little bit more on the staffing side is offset by the reduced waste,” Brennan said. “If the food isn’t being eaten, we’re still buying it, then throwing it out.”
bcrawford@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/getBAC
Related
- Ottawa Hospital managers, after eating the food for a week, say changes are coming
- Freedhoff: Hospital food should heal, not make you sicker
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