New Cross Hospital food gets a fresh start

A hospital in the Black Country was today unveiling its new and improved menu to boost the quality of food served up to patients.

New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton was rolling out a wide variety of freshly-cooked dishes. Its hospital's £5 million new catering centre is now up and running, with bosses promising better quality food for patients.

Staff will prepare meals that are rapidly chilled to below 4C (39F) to be stored for up to four days.

The meals will then be 'regenerated' at ward level and cooked for 55 minutes and served piping hot and fresh to the patients.

As well as traditional favourites such as roast dinners, cottage pie and roast chicken, the new menu also includes meals such as salmon and dill potato bake and Quorn and vegetable stir fry.

All 13 ward kitchens have also been upgraded as part of the project. Meals will be cooked using the latest technology and transported to wards via tunnels.

Martin Cantor, catering project manager at New Cross Hospital, said today patients will be able to choose what they want to eat at the time on the ward and are unlikely to get the same meal twice unless they choose it.

Mr Cantor said all 35 wards would be put onto the new system by December 20.

He said: "The Heart and Lung centre will follow in the next phase and the rest will follow. We are running two different systems at the moment and will change over gradually. The staff are doing a massive amount of work for a few days over the weekend to get ready.

"By Christmas I hope patients will see the quality of the food is much better."

The new centre is controlled by a sophisticated computer system, with around 30 workers creating the meals.