One in 10 hospital meals are not eaten

Patients are sending meals back in hospital wards in the West Midlands, with up to one in 10 being left uneaten, figures released today reveal.

Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital was the worst in the region, with 11 per cent of meals being sent back without being eaten, costing it more than £250,000 a year.

This waste comes despite it spending the second highest amount on patient food in the region, at £8.40 per patient.

Figures for more than 200 hospitals reveal more than nine million meals returned to kitchens at a cost of £22 million a year.

Figures from March 2009 to 2010 show Stafford Hospital spends the most cash on feeding patients in the region at £9.36 a day, with 8.7 per cent sent back.

Sandwell Hospital had the second highest rate of uneaten food in the region, with nine per cent sent back. The hospital spends £7.44 a day feeding each patient.

Walsall Manor Hospital spends £6.54 a day, with six per cent of meals uneaten. Russells Hall in Dudley, where £4.78 is spent, has the lowest rate of uneaten food at five per cent.