[lettie]

I agree in principal because of the vast amount of wasted food that ends up being thrown away. This plan has been on the cards for a while in order to save money and has nothing to do with the opening of the new hospital but the fact that there is a lot of food wasted.

The bad thing is that we have heard on the grapevine that the ward waitress service which we had at QPH is stopping and that the nurses will have to give out meals. I can vouch that we don't have time to do that on maternity and that the patients will probably be asked to get their own off the trolley. That would be fine for our patients who are mobile but on an elderly medical or orthopaedic ward it may not be so simple.

I suppose that we are still quite lucky in this country that we get fed in hospital. My friend was admitted to a private hospital in Turkey whilst on holiday and needed an emergency operation. Not only did her husband have to go in with her and provide care such as bedbathing and helping her to the toilet, but he also had to provide her with food. The nurses only did dressings and doling out drugs over there, and for that limited service she was charged a small fortune.