[Acrylic-bob]

I had occaision to visit a relative in Blackburn Royal Infirmary the other day, as one does, and as it happened I was there at the time the evening meal was being served.

I have heard a great many complaints regarding the quality of hospital cooking and have even been on the receiving end of quite a few of the most inedible meals it has ever been my misfortune to encounter. The service I witnessed at BRI did not disappoint. It was bland to the point of tastlessness, unimaginative, unappetising and cold. All of which is perhaps bad enough. But, the thing which truly horrified me is the way in which it was served. It was delivered to the ward in a stainless steel trolly which held approximately three dozen trays. The trolly was neither insulated nor heated and the doors were left wide open with the food exposed for over an hour while nurses passed by with bedpans and soiled dressings and visitors pushed their way past it too.

If I were to open a restaurant and serve food to my customers in the same manner, The Environmental Health Inspector would, not only close me down but would also ensure that I was summoned to appear before the Magistrates.

How is it that the one institution that really should know better, can openly flout food hygeine regulations on a daily basis and get away with it? And how is it that the health fascists who inhabit these places are so determined to take the splinter out of the eyes of others but are incapable of taking the plank out of their own?