Ward food safety standards

Patient Information Leaflet

Overview

• By law, the Trust must make sure that all food it provides to patients, staff and visitors is safe to eat.
• This law is called the Food Safety Act 1990.
• We have a duty to protect patients, staff and visitors from harmful germs in food (food borne pathogens) and from unsafe food handling.
• This is essential in our healthcare environment where food is stored and served to patients who are very vulnerable to food borne illness.
• Good hygiene, safe food handling and trained staff are important when food is delivered, stored, prepared, cooked and served.
• These rules must also be followed for food brought in from home.
• We need to actively protect our patients by ensuring that we avoid any cross contamination in the refrigerator, in the bay and ward area or at the time of serving.
• Cooked foods that can easily grow harmful germs should be eaten soon after cooking or thrown away.
• This helps prevent food from becoming unsafe to eat.
• We are also responsible for making sure that the environment is safe for patients with food allergies.
• This is why we have a set of safety food standards in place.

Safety food standards

• Any food brought into the organisation by patients, family or friends must be recorded in the patient’s notes.
• This helps us find out what food the patient has eaten if food poisoning is suspected.
• Cooked food that has been brought in hot to the organisation should be eaten immediately.
• Foods prepared in the home environment should be eaten on the day of preparation.
• Food can be stored in the refrigerator if it is in an airtight container, labelled with the patient’s name and the date it was brought in with a clear use by date.
• No plastic bags must be kept in the fridge due to the risk of contamination.
• Once food has been taken out of the fridge and given to a patient it cannot be returned to the fridge.
• Patient food cannot be cooked or warmed up on the hospital site.
• Dry foods at the bedside, which do not need refrigeration, should be kept in an airtight container to prevent the risk of food pests.
• Fruit that has not been eaten should be thrown away before it starts to spoil.
• Our hospital ward staff are trained in food safety management and are required to advise you to follow these standards.

Contact our service

• If you have any questions, please speak to the ward Dietitian, or you can:
  • Call the Hospital Nutrition and Dietetic Team on 020 7288 5552 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm) or
  • Call the Patient Catering Team on 020 7288 3110 (Monday to Sunday, 7am to 3pm).